Read it again, it wasn't. The poor Bush economy has something to do with
9/11 and how he treats Arab nations. People just don't want to do business
with BUSH..
http://images.washtimes.com/business/20050826-103041-4237r.htm
9/11 seen as sparking Arab economic boom
By Jim Krane
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Washington Times
August 27, 2005
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are
increasingly viewed in the oil-rich Arab countries of the Persian Gulf as
the catalyst for an economic boom when Arabs divested from America and
reinvested at home.
Arab investors pulled tens of billions of dollars out of the United
States. They were angered by perceived American hostility toward Arabs. They
worried their assets would be frozen by U.S. counter-terrorism measures. And
U.S. markets happened to be plummeting while economies in the Persian Gulf
were on the upswing, buoyed by rising oil prices.
The results have been spectacular.
Since late 2001, economies in the six Gulf Cooperation Council
countries -- Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi
Arabia -- have soared, with stock markets up a collective 400 percent. The
Standard & Poor's 500 rose 24 percent over that period.
Most of the credit for the wealth is due to the near-tripling of oil
prices since 2001 to current levels of more than $67 a barrel.
"It's just been an exceptional period, the likes of which the region
hasn't seen in 20 years," said Simon Williams, a Middle East analyst with
the Economist Intelligence Unit in London.
Gulf oil revenue is expected to reach almost $300 billion this year, up
from just $61 billion in 1998.
In Saudi Arabia, gross domestic product rose 37 percent between 2001 and
last year. In the Emirates, GDP jumped almost 50 percent. In contrast, the
U.S. economy rose 16 percent.
The boom is changing the face of Persian Gulf states. Building cranes
line the horizon in the Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. New highways are
slicing across once-empty desert, and hives of imported laborers are
erecting hospitals, universities and entire districts of shimmering
high-rise apartment towers -- even artificial islands covered in luxury
villas.
The changes are most visible in Dubai, which in the past four years has
become one of the world's fastest-growing cities. Dubai has $20 billion in
residential and commercial building projects under way or announced, said
Daniel Hanna, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai.
Prices on luxury properties have tripled or quadrupled since foreigners
were given permission to buy here in 2002.
Investors and economists say the jump in oil revenue is the biggest
factor for the boom, but the shift in strategy that led Gulf Arabs to divert
funds from U.S. investments to home markets laid the groundwork.
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