The private sectors of the six oil-exporting countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council are, by varying degrees, experiencing their worst crisis since the oil price crash of 1998-99. However, this downturn is different to previous globally induced oil shocks.

Historically, corporate profitability was hit by cuts in public expenditure as Gulf governments recoiled from plummeting oil revenues. This time, the accumulation of sovereign wealth funds is enabling governments to raise expenditure despite falling oil receipts. But as the GCC has opened to the outside world over the past decade, the private sector’s exposure to economic contagion has grown.