Hazem Beblawi - The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East)

The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East) — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East)" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...69

First published in 1984

This edition first published in 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1984 Hazem Beblawi

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-78710-0 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-138-81049-5 (Volume 2)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

1984 Hazem Beblawi

Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT
Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, 28 Kembla St,
Fyshwick, ACT 2609, Australia

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Beblawi, Hazem
The Arab Gulf economy in a turbulent age.
1. Persian Gulf States Economic conditions
I. Title
330.9536053HC415.3

ISBN 0-7099-3215-4

All rights reserved. For information, write:
St. Martins Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Printed in Great Britain
First published in the United States of America in 1984

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

Beblawi, Hazem, 1936
The Arab gulf economy in a turbulent age.

Includes index.
1. Persian Gulf RegionEconomic conditions.
2. Persian Gulf RegionForeign economic relations.
3. Petroleum industry and tradePersian Gulf Region.
4. Economic history1971-I. Title.
HC415.3.B43 1984 330.953605383-40505
ISBN 0-312-04700-2

Printed and bound in Great Britain

CONTENTS

To Dina, Karim and Salma

My interest in the phenomenon of oil surplus funds goes back to the early seventies. In June 1973, a few months before the so-called first oil shock, I chose as a topic for my presentation before the annual meeting of the Egyptian alumni of the National Institute for Management Development: Perspectives for Oil Surplus Funds, Alexandria, San Stefano, June 1973 (reproduced in the Egyptian periodical International Policy, Al Seyassah Al Dawliya, July 1974). A subsequent long sojourn in Kuwait and later developments in the oil market increased my interest in the subject as well as broadening my outlook.

I first met David Croom at Exeter during a symposium organised by Exeter University, the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, on Oil Revenues and their Impact on Development in the Gulf States. I contributed to that symposium a paper on The Gulf Foreign Investment Coordination. David Croom suggested, and I agreed, to publish with Croom Helm that paper along with other studies on the Gulf economy in a new volume. The present book is the result.

The volume includes papers published, though slightly adapted, over the last two years (19813), to which I added a substantial introductory essay, as well as a background essay on Kuwait. After an overview of the Gulf economy in the introduction, Part One outlines the international financial context while Part Two surveys some Gulf problems and Part Three concludes with the Kuwaiti example.

I have been greatly helped in the preparation of this volume by many people. I cannot acknowledge my debt to all those who contributed to the process of forming my thinking by their comments and criticism. I would like only to express here my thanks to Raid Fahmi with whom I had the pleasure of co-authoring a paper appearing in this volume. I am also grateful to the editors of the Arab Gulf Journal, Finance and Industry and Westview Press to reproduce here material previously published by them.

INTRODUCTION:
AN OVERVIEW

Introduction

For years to come the oil price increases in 19734, and again in 1979, will be looked upon as a turning point in recent international relations. They have even been labelled the Oil Revolution, rather like the Industrial Revolution. Later developments may, however, prove that it could be a premature judgement and the whole thing might turn out to be no more than another episode of history, magnified under the weight of the moment but fading away as its memory recedes.

This can by no means be true for the Gulf states. Whatever would be the final assessment, the oil shock makes a milestone in the history of the Gulf states, thus promoting them from relative remoteness to the forefront of international finance and politics. Suddenly, peripheral countries are called upon to assume a world central role to maintain the world economic and financial health. The establishment of a new world economic order, an old dream, came for a while very close to realisation. Such a gigantic enterprise cannot, however, be undertaken by small countries. Soon, the financial pre-eminence of the Gulf states was overshadowed by their economic, political and military shortcomings. Even the new oil order, which was taken for granted, was now seriously undermined, and the all-powerful OPEC came to face enormous problems from within and without. The contrast between the core and the periphery did not fail to manifest itself in the oil showdown.

The oil shock coincided with, or perhaps resulted from, major changes in the world economic and financial setting. The breakdown of the international monetary system and the near failure of economic policies helped to magnify the impact of the oil price increases. Increasing world interdependence is accompanied by decreasing economic understanding. National political assertiveness is growing amid a more interdependent world while unregulated categories, such as the Euromarkets, are plaguing economic policies. Confusion and uncertainty are and no wonder the lot of our times.

The Oil Shock; Relative Prices or Income Redistribution

Early at the beginning of the century the oil barrel cost about $1.2 in the US. By 1970 it was only $1.69 (Ahmadi, Kuwait) a remarkable stability with no parallel in recent history. In the last decade the official oil price went up to $34, reaching more than $45 in spot markets in overheated periods. This is the oil shock, or rather the two oil shocks of 19734 and 1979.

In fact, since late 1970, oil prices timidly started to move up with the Tehran Agreements. On 16 October 1973, while the crossing and the counter-crossing of the Suez Canal and the Golan Heights hypnotized the world politicians and public opinion, six Arab OPEC members (OAPEC) met in Kuwait and increased posted oil prices from $3.01 to $5.12 per barrel. The oil price increase was blended with a systematic monthly reduction of oil production and selective embargo measures. Stunned by surprise, the spot market reacted nervously, prices reaching more than $20 per barrel. On 2324 December 1973, OPEC met in Tehran and increased the posted price to $11.65 while Arab embargo and production cuts continued very cold news for Christmas and the New Year. The change was sudden, unexpected and grave. It was aptly called the first oil shock.

Next page

1234567...69

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East)»

Look at similar books to The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East). We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

William R. Roff

Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Alanoud Alsharekh

Popular Culture and Political Identity in the Arab Gulf States

Tim Niblock

Social and Economic Development in the Arab Gulf (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Yusuf A. Sayigh

Arab Oil Policies in the 1970s (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Roberto Aliboni

Arab Industrialisation and Economic Integration (RLE Economy of Middle East)

R. Paul Shaw

Mobilizing Human Resources in the Arab World (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Elias H. Tuma

Economic and Political Change in the Middle East (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Melani Cammett

A Political Economy of the Middle East

Adam Hanieh

Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East

Sorenson

An introduction to the modern Middle East: history, religion, political economy, politics

Cammett Melani

The Political Economy of the Arab Uprisings

Malcolm C. Peck

The A to Z of the Gulf Arab States

Discussion, reviews of the book The Arab Gulf Economy in a Turbulent Age (RLE Economy of Middle East) and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.