(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Dubai's successful bid to host the World Expo in 2020 will help boost GDP growth in the GCC region, including the UAE, as the Emirate economy is expected witness a whopping spending of nearly $18bn over the next several years, said a statement issued by QNB yesterday.
The government has announced plans for $8bn of infrastructure spending for the mega event, including the acceleration of plans to expand the Dubai metro, rail and road networks.
A report from HSBC estimated that there would be a further $10bn of private sector spending to cover all the costs of putting on the Expo. The size of the public and private investments will stimulate growth and economic benefits considerably. The spending will directly impact consumption and investment growth, which in turn, will create new jobs, drawing in workers and providing a further boost to consumption.
QNB Group estimates that these factors should add an average 0.5 percentage points GDP growth annually in the run up to 2020 and an additional one percentage point in 2020 itself as the influx of people into the country boost domestic demand.
The World Expo is the third largest global event after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. Based on the previous experience of previous events, the Expo could attract up to 50m visitors, in 2020 itself, providing a strong boost to tourism and consumption.
Considering that the World Cup is being held in Qatar in 2022, the combination of both events in a reasonably short timeframe should provide considerable impetus to growth in the UAE, Qatar and the GCC as a whole.
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