The number of business licenses issued by Gulf Cooperation Council member (GCC) governments to member states nationals have ballooned to 40,753 by the end of 2013, compared to 11,095 in 2004, a growth of 267 percent, said a report by the GCC General Secretariat on Friday.
The United Arab Emirates have topped the list of the license issuers with 35,005 licenses in 2013; followed by Kuwait with 3,453; Bahrain with 1, 118; Saudi Arabia with 494; Oman with 426 and Qatar with 256, the report added.
According to the report, Saudis topped the list of license receivers with 46 percent share, then came Kuwaitis with 17 percent share, Omanis with 17 percent, Bahrainis with 14 percent, Qataris with six percent share and Emiratis with two percent shares.
It noted that the number of Gulf commercial banks’ branches opened in the GCC countries mounted in the last ten years to 25 by 2013 vis-أ -vis 7 by 2000 and 11 by 2004.
The UAE came first with seven branches followed by Bahrain with five, Qatar and Kuwait with four branches each, according to statistics.
The host countries of the Gulf commercial bank branches were topped by Kuwait with seven branches; followed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with six branches each, Bahrain with three, Oman with two and Qatar one branch.
Source : KUNA Kuwait News agency
