JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is expected to emerge as the sixth largest economy in the world, rising above Canada, United Kingdom and Switzerland and is also set to be the Middle East's richest economy in terms of GDP per capita by 2050, Citibank said in its latest forecast. The report forecast that Saudis will have an average wealth of $98,311 by 2050. This is nearly four times the current rate of $24,200 gross domestic product (GDP) per capital, according to the CIA World Factbook. However, Singapore retains its top spot as the richest economy in the world in terms of GDP per capita by 2050 with $137,710, the report noted, followed by Hong Kong ($116,639), Taiwan ($114,093), South Korea ($107,752) and the US ($100,802) rounding out the top five. With Saudi Arabia on sixth, Canada ($96,375), the UK ($91,130), Switzerland ($90,956) and Austria ($90,158) conclude the top 10. Citigroup's list of Global Growth Generators looks at economies beyond "emerging markets" and "BRICs". In fact, the US bank bristles at these terms, suggesting they are outdated. "The expression 'Emerging Markets' is clearly past its sell-by date... The use of the term 'Emerging Markets' is very common – so common indeed that it has become hard to get around it – but clear definitions are few and far between and useful definitions are virtually nonexistent," writes Willem Buiter in the report. So, Citibank has come up with its own list of Global Growth Generators - an unlikely grouping of mostly troubled countries that Citibank says could lead global growth. No BRICs, emerging, submerging or advanced economies for Citigroup. Instead, it has coined its own '3G' economies - the triple Gs standing for Global Growth Generators. The Citibank mantra is: start poor, start young, open up, adopt a market economy, don't be unlucky and don't blow it. By that logic, it has picked Egypt and Iraq as part of its exclusive club of growth drivers. The report found that world GDP will increase from $72 trillion in 2010 to $380 trillion by 2050 and will grow by 4.6 percent per annum until 2030 and by 3.8 percent between 2030 and 2050. "Developing Asia and Africa will be the fastest growing regions, in our view, driven by population and income per capita growth, followed in terms of growth by the Middle East, Latin America, Central and eastern Europe, the CIS, and finally advanced nations of today," the report said. The Middle East is set to contribute four percent of global GDP by 2030 and by five percent by 2050. In the short-term, Saudi Arabia, which holds around a fifth of the world's proven petroleum reserves and derives 45 percent of its GDP from the petroleum sector, is set to see its economy grow by 3.9 percent in 2011, according to a new study by consultants Business Monitor International. "Saudi Arabia's non-oil sector will play an increasingly vital role for the economy, as the government's initiative to diversify the economy away from the hydrocarbon sector will bolster private consumption and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)," the report said. As part of a longer-term spending plan, the government plans to spend $155 billion in 2011 alone, investing in education and infrastructure.
