DUBAI: Optimism is still bounding in Kuwait after the Institute of International Finance (IIF) revised down its economic growth outlook for the UAE to 3.6 percent for 2013, from a previous forecast of 4.8 percent. In 2013, the IIF also predicted that the whole GCC economic growth will stand at 3.8 percent from the 5.8 percent it predicted in 2012. It also expected that the GCC will retain financial balance in 2013, and the external balance will decrease due to lower crude prices. "I think this is still respectable and we should be proud that despite political and social turmoil in the country and among our neighbors we have been able to maintain steady and solid growth," an economic advisor for the government told Bikyanews.com on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the GCC's non-hydrocarbon real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to be near 5 percent. B