(MENAFN) International Monetary Fund warned the oil-dependent Gulf States by saying that they might face budget shortfalls if the recent decline in oil prices continues, Arab News reported.
The decline in oil prices is expected to reduce the revenues of most Gulf countries by 8 percent of gross domestic product with the combined GDP of the GCC, which reached USD1.64 trillion in 2013 possibly plunging by roughly USD130 billion this year, resulting in putting many of them into a fiscal deficit situation.
However, the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which have saved some of those earnings during the recent years of high oil prices, said that they are prepared to cope with the immediate impact of the reduction in revenues.
The total revenue of the GCC states, 90 percent of which come from oil with the countries pumping 17 million barrels of crude oil per day, more than doubled from USD317 billion in 2008 to USD756 billion in 2012 but declined to USD729 billion last year.
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