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The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential of renewable energy as an essential future energy source in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This paper summarizes the main projects and measures established to start the transition toward renewable energy. The opportunities and challenges for developing renewable energy projects have been discussed to reach a better understanding of the future of renewable energy in the region.

The paper provides a literature-based study on the status of the renewable energy sector in the GCC, including potentials, projects, targets and strategies. The opportunities and challenges of the development of renewable energy sources in the GCC region have been discussed based on the literature.

The paper shows that the GCC countries have begun to adopt a more proactive approach toward renewable energy, while the reorientation of strategies and plans for renewable energy is evolving in these countries. All of the GCC countries focus on solar and wind energies and plan to invest in waste-to-energy (WtE), while only Saudi Arabia is interested in going for geothermal.

The paper contributes to the provision of an extensive literature review on the development of renewable energy in the GCC countries. It provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the region’s renewable energy potential and highlights the main renewable energy strategies and targets. This paper targets regional decision-makers as well as multilateral stakeholders to formulate a set of recommendations to promote renewable energy deployment and improve industrial capabilities.

This study aims to advance practice and research on workforce nationalization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries through identifying relevant policy and practical implications needed to implement nationalization initiatives effectively.

The author followed a two-stage approach. Stage 1 reviewed the literature to identify relevant papers on workforce nationalization in the GCC region. Stage 2 used a thematic analysis to propose relevant implications for both policy makers and employers.

Through the lens of four perspectives at different levels, i.e. legal, organizational, human development and socio-cultural perspectives, the author has identified ten policy and practical implications. Both governments and employers need to consider these when developing holistic strategies for effective workforce nationalization.

Over several decades, the GCC countries have been implementing several nationalization initiatives to increase the percentage and qualifications of their national employees. The significance of these initiatives stems from the fact that the GCC countries lack adequately trained citizens. Moreover, regardless of political attitudes toward foreigners, development plans for modernization, industrialization or urbanization heavily relies on foreign employees. This is because nationals represent the minority of employees and are largely employed in the public sector. This phenomenon needs the attention of scholars to discuss different aspects of nationalization and how to effectively implement it.

This study develops a robust model to measure intellectual capital efficiency (ICE). It also analyzes ICE across Gulf companies, sectors and countries.

This study uses data envelopment analysis (DEA), the Malmquist productivity index (MPI), difference tests and additional analyses on a dataset consisting of 276 firm-year observations.

The findings indicate that the study model is robust to additional analysis. The results show significant differences in ICE between firms during the study period and noteworthy differences between countries, where the Qatari and Bahraini firms achieved the best ICE compared to other countries.

The results of this study have significant ramifications for increasing knowledge of ICE analysis models among relevant parties. In addition, the findings may affect trading strategies because investors and financiers are motivated by the potential for lucrative financial returns on their investments in companies that prioritize ICE strategies.

This research contributes to the literature by proposing a robust model for estimating the ICE. It also compares ICE across Gulf companies, industries and countries to shed light on their ICE challenges.

The concept of smart cities, driven by advancements in innovative information and communication technologies (ICTs), has gained significant attention in recent years. Smart cities aim to improve the quality of life for citizens by leveraging ICT to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of urban services and infrastructure. One critical aspect of smart cities development is advanced innovations in water management, which play a vital role in achieving sustainability, prosperity of community and ensuring the availability of clean water resources. This chapter explores the relationship between advanced water management and smart cities development and highlights the synergies and benefits that arise from their integration. The chapter develops a framework for adopting innovative ICTs that support the gradual transformation toward next generation smart cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Such transformation aligns with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the maintenance of various social, economic, and environmental developments. The chapter begins by discussing the fundamental principles of smart cities and the role of advanced sensing technologies in enabling efficient and automated processes within urban environments. It then delves into the concept of water-sensitive cities, the importance of urban water mass balance analysis in designing sustainable water management strategies, and the emerging trends in water management. Furthermore, the chapter explores the integration of smart program management and the role of citizen engagement in the design and development of smart cities in the GCC countries and finally challenges and concerns facing these programs.

This research aimed to evaluate the predictability of moving-average strategies and examined the validity of the weak form of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) for securities of banks listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Several statistical analyses and eight moving-average rules were employed where buy and sell signals were produced by comparing a security price’s short- and long-term moving averages. The study covered the daily closing share prices of 40 GCC-listed banks over the 18-year period ending 31 December 2017.

The results suggest that securities of banks in the GCC were not weak-form efficient because share prices were predictable. Investors who traded using moving-average strategies could generate higher profits. Analysis of variance found that securities of Kuwaiti banks were the most efficiently priced.

The findings supported the idea that profitability depended on the moving-average rules and country chosen. Transaction costs did not affect the returns obtained using different trading rules.

This work facilitates future evaluation of accounting disclosure environments as well as the market efficiency and the performance of securities in the GCC countries. The performance of moving average rules among representative countries that share similar characteristics was analyzed. Different market participants, including investors, analysts and regulators, can benefit from this study for decision-making. These results suggest that new regulations might be drafted that would improve the timeliness of accounting information and the banks’ level of efficiency.

The concept of smart city has been adopted by various cities across the world. As urbanization is enlarging at a flying pace, the number of cities that engage the smart city concept is to rise, including in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This chapter discusses issues related to the development of (Islamic) smart cities in the GCC countries to create sustainable well-being through ecological and environmental resilience. This issue starts from the conflict between economic and human development on the one hand and ecological and environmental resilience on the other hand as one of the fundamental challenges of sustainable development. The higher the Human Development Index (HDI),, the higher the ecological footprint. Likewise, in the GCC region, all member countries are classified as Very High Human Development; however, all of these countries have a high ecological footprint. Therefore, through a literature study, this chapter focuses on investigating the development of (Islamic) smart cities in the GCC countries in reducing ecological footprints through a circular economy innovation with the support of technology and a digitally-enabled community in creating ecological and environmental resilience. This chapter provides valuable insight into the implementation of the (Islamic) smart cities in the GCC region in taking a global strategic role in green transition through the circular economy to transform their region toward sustainable well-being and become a symbol of sustainable smart global Islamic civilization.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the global financial crisis on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bank regulation and the impact on the region and the policies adopted by the regulators to avoid financial panic and contagion.

The author examines GCC countries’ financial soundness indicators in terms of capital adequacy, non-performing loans and provisioning rates, including central bank liquidity support, deposit guarantees, capital injections and monetary easing and policies to mitigate risk assessment, and the monitoring and elimination of practices promoting excessive risk. GCC compliance regimes through multinational organizations and the exposure of the region to cross-border financial linkages to test for financial soundness are assessed.

Overall, results indicate that comprehensive regulatory oversight exists in the GCC in conformity with international standards, and Basel capital adequacy requirements, and that the GCC regulators have acted prudently to establish high coverage in all measures but that gaps exit concerning cross-border surveillance and a need for imposition of capital surcharges on banks deemed high systemic risk. The supervision of Islamic financial institutions and a lack of inter-GCC liquidity support mechanism for this segment are highlighted.

The paper shows that the GCC regulators need to address cross-border surveillance, as local banks branch internationally and foreign banks operate in the region.

The author is not aware of any similar work that compares the regulatory policies of the GCC.

Given the persistence of low oil prices and the continued shrinking of government revenues, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continue to adapt to the new normal of the oil price environment, with a focus on pressing ahead with subsidies’ reforms and measures to increase non-oil revenues, as well as accelerating debt issuance, which raise concerns about fiscal sustainability and the implications on macroeconomic stability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the sustainability of fiscal policy in GCC by exploring governments’ reaction to rising public debt accumulation via the estimation of a fiscal reaction function to higher debt. Subsequently, the paper compares the obtained results with other similar and non-similar groups, in terms of economic structures and oil dependency, to understand how some macroeconomic factors affect differently the fiscal policy responses, in a context of oil price shocks and high price volatility.

The results show that the coefficient of the lagged debt stock was significant and positive, which means that GCC are increasing the pace of reforms and the fiscal primary balance as they issue more debt to ensure a sustainable fiscal policy. The evidence is consistent with the theory that higher levels of debt warrant greater fiscal effort, but at lower debt levels, countries still have the space to increase spending without jeopardizing debt sustainability as long as they remain committed to fiscal reforms to increase the primary balance. The evidence supports the notion that the region’s public finances have improved in response to recent fiscal adjustments. However, national experiences differ considerably, especially given variation in the fiscal breakeven prices against the new normal of low oil prices. Moreover, the findings reveal that various measures of economic performance, as captured by economic growth, openness and the oil price, were also found to be important factors in explaining fiscal performance. The combined effects of low oil prices and high degree of openness warrant further efforts to reform the budget to increase the primary balance while safeguarding priority spending tomobilize non-energy growth and ensure debt sustainability in GCC.

Given recent experiences and the “low for long” oil price, policy priorities and reforms are necessary in oil-dependent economies, including GCC, to ensure macroeconomic sustainability. Sustaining the momentum of non-energy growth would reduce continued dependency of GCC economies on oil revenues and fiscal spending in the medium-term, creating a bigger scope for private sector participation in economic activity and increasing the prospects of further diversification away from long dependency on oil price volatility and their adverse implications on the fiscal budget and economic cycles.

The world has faced various epidemic situations caused by different viruses such as SARS-Cov, MERS-Cov, Ebola and many more during the past few decades, SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) is the genetic variant of newly the discovered Coronavirus, which has been believed to spread from China during December 2019, which has created a catastrophic effect for the whole world. In the first quarter of 2020, the virus started to spread to different countries, in addition, the severity of cases, the mortality rate and the recovery rate varied between countries. In the Sultanate of Oman and different parts of the world, the COVID started to spike during the end of March 2020. In this research paper, COVID data for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are extracted and analysis has been made based on different parameters. The analysis has been divided into two categories – the first part focuses on the total number of cases, the total number of recoveries and the total number of deaths and comparison has been made for different GCC countries, from these analyses, it gives a clear picture of the days of a particular month, which contributes to the increase of COVID cases. The second part focuses on finding out the indicators that are correlating with the COIVD-19 cases and deaths; it has been found that there is a very strong correlation between the total population and labour force of every GCC country with the corresponding COVID cases and deaths.

The entire research steps involved starts with data collection, data pre-processing and data analysis. The analysis has been divided into two categories – the first part focuses on the total number of cases, the total number of recoveries and the total number of deaths and comparisons has been made for different GCC countries. The second part focuses on finding out the indicators that are correlating with COIVD-19 cases and deaths.

It has been found that there is a very strong correlation between the total population and labour force of every GCC country with the corresponding COVID cases and deaths.

The data set considered is limited and can be extended further.

This research paper definitely provides a road map for practice, as this research provides details about the total number of active cases, death based on the days in different GCC countries. It has been observed that during the end of each month and during weekends, the total number of cases increases drastically, so by taking into consideration the governing bodies can impose a lockdown during these spike durations. In addition to it, the citizens and residents should make a practice to avoid or limit their movement during the spike durations, which was analysed by this research work.

The idea is the own idea and not copied from any other source.

This paper seeks to provide an overview of the concept of “localization” of human resources in Qatar. Relative to the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCCCs), economic development began late in Qatar due to political and economic factors such as the influx of an immigrant labour force and changes in the education system. Now, with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the highest per capita income, Qatar has vigorously embraced rapid economic expansion. However, in a small country awash with natural resources, and with a population engulfed by expatriates, the issue of “localization” is a pressing economic and social issue.

This paper reviews the national human resource situation in this atypical context, and seeks to determine the factors that impact on “localization” in this small, yet important Gulf nation.

There are some common barriers to “localization” throughout the GCCCs. These can be summarized as: an inefficient quota system; a culture that is focused more on prestige than performance; strict cultural practices concerning women in the workforce; education systems that are not market driven; and an inequitable social contract and distribution of oil and natural gas wealth in the GCCCs.

While much attention has been directed to the concept of “localization” in developing countries, “Qatarization” has received no attention in the scholarly literature, despite the resounding political and economic role that Qatar has in the GCCCs.