Report: GCC to spend $90bn on Education in 2014
GCC governments will spend more than USD 90 billion on education-related construction projects by the end of 2014, supporting a population forecast to increase from 50.6 million in 2014 to 55.8 million by 2018. The total number of students in the GCC region meanwhile is expected to grow from 11.1 million in 2014 to 11.6 million by 2016.
The statistics come from Ventures ME, which prepared its report to support Dubai based construction exhibition, The Big 5.
Saudi Arabia will be the biggest investor in education this year with an expected spend of USD 56 billion. It will construct 465 new schools and refurbish 1,500 more, alongside 1,544 existing school construction projects. It is also building eight new colleges and new vocational and technical facilities.
In the UAE, 2.6 billion USD is being spent on schools according to Ventures ME.
GDP per capita income in the GCC is estimated to grow from USD 45,184 in 2011 to USD 51,286 in 2016 and that will benefit education, "especially for private sector education," according to the report.
Qatar has allocated USD 7.2 billion to education, which is 7.3% up on the previous year. Oman is initiating a process to provide free basic education to all its nationals spending USD 6.8 billion, which is 18.6% of the total public expenditure. Kuwait will spend 14.2% of its annual budget for the year (2013 -2014) which is USD 10.5 billion. Bahrain allocated USD 2.2 billion to continue to improve the education process for the fiscal years 2013-2014.
Education spend in the region is not only being driven by social pressures, but also simple business dynamics. Dubai alone currently take seven percent of all global private school tuition fee income, recording Dhs 9 billion in revenues in 2013/14.
