Gulf states show ‘limited’ progress kicking oil & gas dependency

Moody’s found that despite ambitious plans to diversify economies, progress for Gulf states is limited.

The clock is ticking for Gulf economies to end their overreliance on fossil fuels, as more countries around the world pour resources into accelerating their transitions to green energy and a low carbon future. But a report released on Monday from credit ratings agency Moody’s found that despite Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states announcing ambitious plans to kick their crude habits, economic diversification efforts have yielded only “limited” results, and further progress could be held back by lower oil prices and too many blueprints targeting the same non-oil sectors. “While we expect the diversification momentum to pick up, it will be dampened by reduced availability of resources to fund diversification projects in a lower oil price environment and by intra-GCC competition in a relatively narrow range of targeted sectors,” said Moody’s.