A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in GCC Countries

Mohammed AlKhars, Fazlul Miah, Hassan Qudrat-Ullah and Aymen Kayal
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Mohammed AlKhars: Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, KFUPM Business School, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Fazlul Miah: Department of Accounting and Finance, KFUPM Business School, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Aymen Kayal: Department of Management and Marketing, KFUPM Business School, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-43

Abstract: This survey study analyzed the existing literature on the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait). This study identified 59 articles published in 18 journals covering the period 2006–2019. The articles were grouped into two categories: the first category included studies analyzing the energy–growth relationship at the individual country level while the second category included studies analyzing the relationship at a multi-country level. The result of this study revealed that 18% of the observations supported the growth hypothesis, 26% supported the conservation hypothesis, 43% supported the feedback hypothesis and 13% supported the neutral hypothesis. As our analysis found a dominant support for the growth and feedback hypotheses, this implies that the focus of energy policies in GCC countries has been on the supply and the uninterrupted availability for the expansion and growth of their industrial and developmental activities. However, for a sustainable development and growth of the GCC economies and meeting the environmental challenges, there is an urgent need for the expansion of renewable energy technologies in the energy supply mix of GCC countries.

Keywords: energy consumption; economic growth; GCC; literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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