GCC business confidence rising

Business confidence is building in GCC countries as a sense of recovery takes hold, according to a latest Oliver Wyman/Zogby International survey of C-Suite executives in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
The survey of 134 CEOs, CFOs, and COOs, conducted in April and May this year, shows GCC executives are broadly upbeat.
Fifty-eight per cent of those surveyed said they found current business conditions improved, and 82 per cent expected improved conditions in the next two years.
In the UAE, the percentage of executives expressing optimism about two-year prospects is 74 per cent, up 29 percentage points from the previous survey in October last year.
Optimism also increased in Saudi Arabia (up 19 points to 85 per cent) and Qatar (up 13 points to 96 per cent).
Nearly half (46 per cent) of the GCC executives surveyed said that diversification of the region’s economies presented the greatest opportunity to increase competitiveness.
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of them see the greatest opportunity in deepening alliances with partners in Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations or developing countries.
Only four per cent put stronger ties with partners in the developed West at the top of their competitiveness agenda.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.