By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : The growth rate of the Arab economies rose to 5.5 per cent in 2006 as the Arab GDP reached USD 1.27 trillion, compared to an annual average of USD 600 million in 2002, an Arab economist said.
The Arab economy has been remarkably improving over the past five years despite the unfavourable political conditions in the region, Secretary-General of the Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) Ahmed Goweilli said Thursday.
Goweilli said that trade with the world was also on the rise. Arab exports increased to USD 658 billion last year as imports rose to USD 357 billion. Thus, the rate exceeded the USD 1 trillion for the first time since 2005.
He attributed the noticeable rise of the Arab trade to the hike in oil prices. In addition, most Arab countries have successfully implemented economic reform programmes, he said.
The increase of the Arab region’s oil exports led to a huge surplus, part of which was used for supporting the infrastructure in the oil states as well as bolstering the joint Arab investments.
The surplus in oil revenues reached USD 17 billion in 2006, compared to only USD 1 billion annual average in the late 1990s.
The inter-Arab trade also rose to 11.3 per cent of the Arab trade with the world; most of the rise was confined to crude oil and oil derivatives.