The recent boom has focused world attention on the GCC economies—not only as exporters of oil and gas, but as investment destinations with major infrastructure projects, booming tourism and financial services sectors. As US economic growth has slowed, GCC investors have begun to diversify their assets more widely, making investments in Asia, Africa and within the Gulf region itself. Industrialising economies in Asia are intensifying their trade links with the Gulf and some of the world’s poorest countries have become increasingly dependent on remittances from the millions of foreign workers transforming the skylines of Gulf cities. The seizure in global financial markets, the recent fall in the.
