clipped from www.business24-7.ae

Record budget surplus likely for the bloc. Manageable deficit for some members due to public spending. (AFP)

Strong crude prices will bolster the fiscal position in Gulf oil producers in 2010, but some of them could still record a manageable budget deficit because of counter-crisis high public spending, according to analysts.

While the combined budgets of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) would likely record a surplus, as was the case in the previous nine years, some of them could suffer a relatively small shortfall despite an upsurge in their hydrocarbon earnings, they said. The experts believe four GCC members – the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – would record surpluses while the budgets of Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, and Bahrain would remain in a deficit.