ABU DHABI, January 24, 2023 (Xinhua) – First Abu Dhabi Bank, one of the largest banks in the UAE, expected that the GDP of the Gulf Cooperation Council region would reach about 4.2 percent this year, after reaching nearly 6.5 percent by the end of 2022.
In a report entitled “Global Investment Prospects 2023”, the bank said that it expects the GCC region to continue to outperform the global economy in terms of growth during 2023.
The report indicated that the investment trends witnessed in 2022 in the financial markets of the GCC region will continue their momentum during the first quarter of 2023, with positive expectations that these markets will begin to fully recover by the summer.
He pointed out that the steady rise in interest rates has led to a decrease in investors’ interest in traditional investments, such as bonds and stocks, compared to cash deposits, which have witnessed an increase in recent times.
He expected interest rates to stabilize in the United States later this year, which currently stands at 4.33 percent, while he does not overlook the expectation of a recession during the first half of this year in the United States, which calls for investors to invest in risky assets.
The report revealed that the strong oil revenues in the Gulf countries will continue to support hydrocarbon exporters in the region, which in turn will support the activities of the non-oil sectors in the region, and return the surplus to government balance sheets.
He called attention to specific indicators that lead to future growth in the region, including crude oil and carbon trade, as the year 2022 witnessed the impact of carbon trade on the financial situation in the Middle East and North Africa region, and the emergence of important trading platforms in the GCC countries and the Middle East and North Africa region for this matter. .
The report indicated that the Abu Dhabi Global Market has become the first judicial authority in the world to regulate the trading of carbon credit trading commodities and emissions compensation, and to issue trading licenses to operate instant payment and commodity derivatives markets, in addition to establishing the “Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last year. .
The “Global Investment Prospects 2023” report, in its modern version, was titled “Towards a New Economic Cycle”. It was prepared by a team of investment experts at First Abu Dhabi Bank. It included a study on the global economic situation, the investment environment, and the most prominent macroeconomic trends. /ts/
