According to the UN organization covering the Middle East - Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the GCC’s booming economies have imported significant inflation despite governments’ counter measures. It was noted that the growth in wealth has outpaced price hikes and policies of curbing
inflation.
ESCWA experts state in a recent report that "the combined inflation average in the six members (of GCC), which sit atop 45% of the world's oil, was as low as 0.8% in 2002 but swelled to 1.3% in 2003, to around 1.8% in 2004 and as high as 2.7% in 2005. The rate is projected to go down to around 2.2% in 2006."
