LONDON - The uprisings that swept the Middle East this year have cost the most affected countries more than $55 billion, a new report says, but the resulting high oil prices have strengthened other producing countries. A statistical analysis of International Monetary Fund (IMF) data by political risk consultancy Geopolicity showed that countries that had seen the bloodiest confrontations - Libya and Syria - were bearing the economic brunt, followed by Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen. Between them, those states saw $20.6 billion wiped off their gross domestic product and public finances eroded by another $35.3 billion as revenues slumped and costs rose. But as the major oil producers such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait avoided significant unrest - often through increasing handouts as oil prices rose - they saw their GDP grow. Oil prices rocketed from around $90 a barrel of Brent crude at the start of the year to just short of $130 in May before retreating to around $113 now. "As a result, the overall impact of the 'Arab Spring' across the Arab realm has been mixed but positive in aggregate terms," the report estimated, saying overall the year to September saw some $38.9 billion added to regional productivity. Libya looks to have been the worst affected, with economic activity across the country - including oil exports - halted at an estimated cost to GDP of $7.7 billion, or more than 28 per cent. Total costs to the fiscal balance were estimated at $6.5 billion, roughly 29 per cent of gross domestic product. In Egypt, nine months of turmoil eroded some 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product with public expenditure rising to $5.5 billion just as public revenues fell by $75 million. In Syria, where protests have continued throughout the year in the face of a bloody crackdown, the impact is hard to model but early indications suggested a total cost to the Syrian economy of some $6 billion or 4.5 per cent of GDP. The report said the number of Yemenis below the poverty line was expected to be pushed above 15 percent as a result of currency falls and protracted unrest. Total cost to the economy was estimated at 6.3 per cent of GDP, with the fiscal balance deteriorating by $858 million, 44.9 per cent of GDP. Tunisia, where the protests began in late 2010, lost some $2.0 billion from its GDP, roughly 5.2 per cent, with negative impacts across almost all sectors of the economy including tourism, mining, phosphates and fishing. Tunisia's government increased expenditure by some $746 million, pushing its fiscal balance some $489 million into the red. Saudi Arabia's newly instituted handouts and wider public investment programme, the report estimated, amounted to some $30 billion - perhaps seen by the kingdom's rulers as a way of avoiding real reform. But increased oil prices and production helped boost gross domestic product by more than $5 billion and push up public revenues by $60.9 billion. In Bahrain, oil helped cushion the impact of weeks of protest, with the fall in GDP relatively low at some at 2.77 per cent. Public expenditure rose some $2.1 billion, partly because of cash transfers of $2,660 to each family. None of these steps, the report argued, addressed the underlying causes behind the unrest. A better solution, it said, was much broader international support through the G20 or United Nations aimed at much wider reform.
