By Dayan Candappa
DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf Arab investors appear poised to shrug off the first decline in oil prices in six years and extend a spending spree that has created cities in the desert and triggered global bidding wars over acquisitions.
They will, however, have to contend with new challenges including slowing economic growth, the fallout from a stock crash and concern about how much more investment their countries can absorb.
Strategies for tackling these challenges will among the topics at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai next week. Chief executives from around 20 private and state-owned Gulf companies will attend the summit.
The tripling of international oil prices in the five years to July thrust the six Gulf Arab states - Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates -- on to the global economic stage.
Governments once content to park petrodollars in safe havens such as U.S. Treasuries began plowing windfall revenues into infrastructure, developing tourism, trade, financial services and industry to wean their economies off energy exports.
State funds and companies started scouring the globe for assets, from port operators to real estate.
"The strategy for recycling petrodollars has become more creative, ambitious and aggressive than in previous oil booms," said Simon Williams, regional economist at HSBC in Dubai.
GROWING WEALTH Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Autos II | Sep 30 - Oct 01, 2008 | Hotels/Casinos |
| Restructuring | Sep 22 - 26, 2008 | Financial Services/Exchanges |
| Autos | Sep 15 - 17, 2008 | Autos |
| Russia Investment | Sep 08 - 9, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
