Macroeconomic Risk Management For Oil Stabilization Funds In GCC Countries

The existence of oil stabilization funds as the largest category of sovereign wealth funds relies on oil prices as a main source of macroeconomic risk for oil exporting countries. Given the often contingent spending policies of oil stabilization funds (accumulating wealth when oil prices are rising and spending wealth to support the local economy when GDP is shrinking) it is important to understand the magnitude and relative importance of oil price shocks relative to other sources of macroeconomic risk. A revisited version of this working paper was published in issue nº 109 (December 2010) of Bankers, Markets & Investors.