L. V. SHKVARYA Doctor of Economics The countries of the Persian Gulf - Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia-have been united for 28 years in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf (GCC), which was established on May 25, 1981. Over the years of its existence, thanks to its oil wealth, this association has made the greatest progress in the field of economic cooperation, and also in socio-economic development among the economic groupings of Asian and African countries. In the context of the global financial and economic crisis, the economies of the Gulf States demonstrated relative stability due to the relatively stable global demand for energy resources and their relatively weak involvement in the global financial system. However, since the summer of 2007, after the sharp decline in the US mortgage securities market, the countries of the region, as well as the world as a whole, have entered a period of increased uncertainty. This is reflected in the growing volatility of stock markets, a temporary increase in commodity prices, especially food, fluctuations in the exchange rates of national currencies against major currencies of the world, and the reallocation of international financial flows. RAPID GROWTH After the "Asian" financial crisis of 1997-1998, the GCC countries advanced to the forefront of the world economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates. Their combined GDP increased from $280.996 billion in 1999 to $836.229 billion in 2007, and their share in the global gross product increased from 0.91% to 1.5% over the same period (see Table 1). Table 1 GDP of the GCC countries in 1991-2007, in current prices, $ bn   1991 1999 2000 2004 2005 2006 2007 Bahrain 4,545 6,620 7,971 11,013 13,381 15,884 19,674 Kuwait 11,014 30,123 37,718 59,267 80,781 101,131 113,912 Oman 11,341 15,710 19,868 24,749 30,834 36,443 40,521 Qatar 6,88 ... Read more