The financial crisis in the Gulf and its impact on South Asian migrant workers

The financial crisis had its origins in the United States of America (USA) in 2008, spread to Europe, and then to Japan. The effect of the crisis has been slow to manifest in the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries. ¹ Their basic strengths – a public funded banking sector and huge trade surplus due to the export of oil, the price of which saw unprecedented increase in a span of six months in 2008 – shielded the GCC economies from the adverse impact during the initial days of the crisis. This, coupled with significant inward foreign direct investments (FDIs) to all GCC countries, except Kuwait, also had a beneficial impact (ESCWA 2008).