Doing business with the Arab world: their top economies

The Arab world is made up of the most of the countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa. The economies in most of these countries tend to be fairly small but there are some wealthy nations amongst the group. Those nations that are wealthy in almost all cases got there because they have small populations and huge oil reserves.

The largest economy in the Arab world is Saudi Arabia and this is almost entirely because of the large oil reserves on which they sit. The entire economy is controlled by the ruling family who have become very wealthy as a result. That being said the average Saudi citizen has profited as well as the money is fairly well distributed. The problem for Saudi Arabia is that there is almost no diversification to their economy. This makes them vulnerable when the price of oil goes down. It also raises questions about what is going to happen after the oil is gone.

The next largest economy in the Arab world is that of the United Arab Emirates. This is despite the fact that the UAE is one of the smallest countries in the region. Originally the country's wealth was the result of its large oil reserves but it has now become the business center of the Middle East. The main reason for the strong economic performance of the UAE is that there is a lot more economic freedom than you will find in other Arab countries and really more freedom than in most western countries as well.

The next largest economy in the Arab world is that of Egypt. This is not really surprising given that Egypt has a population that is more than twice that of any other Arab country. The economy in Egypt relies heavily on tourism and agriculture although oil production and the media are also important. Despite having one of the largest economies in the region Egypt remains a relatively poor country because of its large population. A big part of the country's problems are the result of poor government policies and corrupt officials. This makes it very hard to do business in Egypt.

Next in line for the largest economy in the Arab world is Algeria. As the second most populous Arab country this is again not a huge surprise. The economy of Algeria is based almost entirely on the production of oil. They have not diversified their economy at all which does put them at risk for when the oil runs out. They have also experienced some pretty sharp up and down movements over the years as the price of oil fluctuates. One of the problems that Algeria faces is that the wealth is very unevenly distributed and while a few people are quite rich most are very poor.