Assets accumulated by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries as a whole amount to more than $1.8 trillion or 34% of $5.4 trillion assets accumulated by SWFs worldwide . The capitalization of SWFs is only about a
quarter of that of other types of funds, such as pension or mutual funds, but unlike such funds
GCC SWFs continued to expand very rapidly after the crisis on the back of rising oil prices.
The largest GCC SWFs were established in the 1950s and in the 1970s in the wake of decolonization and oil shocks, when Gulf monarchs began to consolidate their ownership over their
own oil production. Most of the smaller GCC SWFs, however, appeared after 2000, when average oil prices progressively quintupled from $20 per barrel (pb) to more than $100 pb, swelling balance of payment surpluses in oil-exporting countries.
The GCC Sovereign Funds * US$ Billion Dollars
UEA 816.6
Saudi Arabia 538.2
Kuwait 342
Qatar 115
Oman 8.2
Bahrain 7.1
*Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute
Pierre Kohler
United Nations Organization
countries as a whole amount to more than $1.8 trillion or 34% of $5.4 trillion assets accumulated by SWFs worldwide . The capitalization of SWFs is only about a
quarter of that of other types of funds, such as pension or mutual funds, but unlike such funds
GCC SWFs continued to expand very rapidly after the crisis on the back of rising oil prices.
The largest GCC SWFs were established in the 1950s and in the 1970s in the wake of decolonization and oil shocks, when Gulf monarchs began to consolidate their ownership over their
own oil production. Most of the smaller GCC SWFs, however, appeared after 2000, when average oil prices progressively quintupled from $20 per barrel (pb) to more than $100 pb, swelling balance of payment surpluses in oil-exporting countries.
The GCC Sovereign Funds * US$ Billion Dollars
UEA 816.6
Saudi Arabia 538.2
Kuwait 342
Qatar 115
Oman 8.2
Bahrain 7.1
*Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute
Pierre Kohler
United Nations Organization
