Saudi Arabia is expected to emerge as the sixth-richest economy of the world in terms of per capita GDP by 2050, surpassing Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a Citibank forecast has said.
According to the report, the oil-rich kingdom will be West Asia's richest economy in terms of GDP per capita by 2050, with Saudis earning $98,311 per annum on average by 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 West Asia, Latin America, Central and eastern Europe, the CIS, and finally advanced nations of today," the report said.
Singapore retains its top spot as the richest economy in the world in terms of GDP per capita by 2050, at $137,710 per person, 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 at 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 'BRIC'.
As per the report, West Asia is set to contribute 4% of the global GDP by 2030 and 5% by 2050.
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.
"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 non-existent," Willem Buiter says in the report.
In this light, 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.
In the short-term, Saudi Arabia, which holds around a fifth of the world's proven petroleum reserves and derives 45% of its GDP from the petroleum sector, is set to see its economy grow by 3.9% in 2011, according to a new study by consultants Business Monitor International.
