Analysis of the bilateral trade between gulf cooperation council countries

Abstract

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries economy is one of the biggest economies in the world with high per-capita income and high purchasing power. Although the member countries exhibit similarity in production, the GCC takes many steps to facilitate the intra-trade. The objective of this study is to analyze the intra-trade of the GCC during the period 1995-2018 and elaborate the impacts of the main three stages in the intra trade agreements between the GCC countries by considering the main sages in facilitating the intra trade among GCC members. The result of the study shows that Bahrain is the biggest importer and exporter from the GCCC followed by Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Still the trade GCC intra trade consists very small proportion from the total trade of the GCCC, with increasing trends over years of the study period, however the analysis shows that there is no impact of the trade arrangements between the GCCC in the case of the stage of the GCC customs union during 2003-2008 and the stage of common market after 2008 on the progress of the intra trade.