Positive reports of recovery from the COVID-19 economic stasis is filing in. Saudi FM is expecting the Kingdom's economy to be recovering back to pre-crisis levels. Dubai Land Department reported US$1.2 billion in real estate trades during July 2020. On the other hand we see ARAMCO discounting Official Selling Price of Arabian Light grade of crude oil by $1.40 per barrel on Asian exports. To put into perspective, Asia Pacific consumed 36.5 million bpd of oil in 2019 (Source: Statista), or over 45 percent of global oil production for that year. Is the real economy of GCC region actually turning around despite drop in oil revenues? That will be the confirmation of their desire to grow beyond oil dependency. We wait for the central banks and private financial research houses in the region to publish their third-quarter economic bulletins.
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