Gulf Arab economies are likely to grow slightly faster in 2015, propped up by strong private business activity despite further falls in oil prices, a Reuters poll of analysts showed.

Brent crude oil, now at just above $96 a barrel, is down almost $20 from June's peak. Many economists expect the downtrend to continue in coming years, although at a slower pace, because of ample supply.

But the financial positions of most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) governments are expected to stay healthy enough for them to continue spending heavily, while private sector growth may offset any drop in activity in the hydrocarbon sector.

Saudi Arabia's $748 billion economy - the biggest in the Arab world - should expand 4.3 per cent next year, a tad more than the 4.2 per cent rate expected in 2014 and 2016, according to the consensus of 18 analysts polled over the past two weeks.

Both the 2015 and 2016 forecasts for Saudi Arabia's real gross domestic product growth are unchanged from the previous Reuters poll on the region, conducted in April.

"The fall in oil prices to under $100 per barrel is unlikely to knock underlying growth in GCC economies significantly off course," said Daniel Kaye, senior macroeconomic editor at the Oxford Economics consultancy.

"In most countries, non-oil growth should remain in the 4-6 per cent range. It is possible, however, that Gulf oil output could be cut more sharply than expected as the Opec leadership looks to provide support to prices."

Qatar is expected to keep outperforming the other five GCC states with a 6.7 per cent growth rate in 2015, much faster than the 6.0 per cent forecast in April, as it spends billions of dollars on construction before it hosts the 2022 soccer World Cup tournament.

That also means, however, that price pressures in the world's top liquefied natural gas exporter are expected to intensify, taking the inflation rate to 4.0 per cent in 2015 and 4.5 per cent in 2016, the highest among the Gulf countries.

"Capital investment into the economy is expanding, population is growing at a double-digit rate and projects are getting fully under way," said Farah Ahmed Hersi, senior economist at Masraf Al Rayan in Doha.

"Despite all of this infrastructure-building activity, the construction inflation in the country is still remarkably low."

In the UAE, where a double-digit jump in Dubai property prices has sparked fears of another bubble, GDP is projected to grow 4.5 per cent next year.

Growth is then expected to slow to 4.3 per cent in 2016, when GCC members are likely to feel the dampening effect of US interest rates, which are expected to start rising in 2015.

Most GCC states peg their currencies to the dollar, meaning they cannot diverge much from US interest rates over a long period, otherwise they risk destabilising capital outflows.

SHRINKING SURPLUSES

On the fiscal front, prospects are less bright for the GCC economies since years of breakneck government spending have left them requiring higher oil prices to post state budget surpluses.

Sliding oil revenues are bad news for small oil exporters such as Oman, which analysts expect to tip into a budget deficit of 0.8 per cent of GDP in 2015, and Bahrain, which could tumble deeper into the red with a 5.7 per cent gap next year.

Even oil giant Saudi Arabia has seen its fiscal forecasts slashed; it is now expected to post a surplus of 2.0 per cent of GDP in 2015 and just 0.3 per cent in 2016, instead of the 3.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent predicted in the April survey.

"Growing government spending commitments on subsidies combined with high spending on infrastructure and other projects will mean reduced surpluses as oil exports remain stagnant or even contract slightly over the years," said Oxford Business Group, an economic and business research publishing firm.

"By 2016, Saudi Arabia could be at the break-even point or even running a small deficit. But with the conflicts in Iraq, Libya, and Ukraine as well as the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria, oil prices will not fall as much as some expect."

The erosion of large fiscal surpluses may add to political pressure in GCC countries to restrain state spending.

While they have enjoyed the surpluses, governments have been reluctant to curb spending on generous cradle-to-grave welfare systems at a time of unrest in the Middle East.  - Reuters