By the end of the first half of 2024, the total reserve assets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries stood at $804.1 billion, a 7.5% increase from the figures at the end of the previous year, according to data released by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat).
These reserve assets made up 4.9% of all reserve assets worldwide. In terms of the extent of international reserve assets, the GCC nations came in fifth place, after China, the European Union, Japan, and Switzerland, according to the statistics.
In addition to the increase in the prices of financial assets on international markets, the Center’s data indicates that this expansion is due to the rise in oil income. Most of the GCC countries’ financial resources are derived from Brent crude, which saw an average price of $84 per barrel in the first half of 2024.
According to GCC-Stat, after the first half of 2024, the total assets of commercial banks operating in the GCC Countries were around $4.3 trillion. This represents an 8.4% rise over the total assets recorded at the end of 2023. In addition to deposits and securities investments overseas, foreign reserve assets include foreign exchange, monetary gold, special drawing rights, and reserves with the International Monetary Fund. A nation’s ability to pay for imports, boost trust in its monetary policy, maintain its currency exchange rate stability, and withstand general economic shocks, whether domestic, domestic or international, is gauged by its foreign reserve assets.
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