Residents of Qatar show the biggest decrease in savings sentiments, while Saudi Arabia shows the biggest overall increase, closely followed by Oman and Kuwait, according to the results of the 2011 National Bonds GCC Savings Index, released Sunday by National Bonds Corporation PJSC, the UAE-based Shariah-compliant savings scheme and investment company. While personal priorities differed among GCC residents, children's education was unanimously chosen as one of the top reasons for saving money. For residents of Saudi, purchase of property to live in was the number one reason for savings, and the factor was similarly prioritized among other GCC countries apart from Kuwait, where it was only the fifth highest priority. Interestingly, the number one reason for savings in Oman was for weddings, a factor which featured lower on the list for all other countries. Expenditure on groceries was the biggest reason for increase in spending across all countries, followed by utility bills and household items. Sixty percent of the respondents in Saudi Arabia and 63 percent of respondents in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain displayed optimism, with plans to start or increase their savings in the next six months. The biggest contrast among residents in the same country was Qatar, which, despite having the highest percentage of respondents in the GCC who claimed to have saved more that they did last year (29 percent), also had the highest percentage of people who saved 'significantly less' (28 percent), showing a clear financial divide within the country.
