Editing Arab world (section)

===Modern economies===
[[File:Cairo-Nile-2020(1).jpg|alt=Cairo-Nile-2020(1)|thumb|[[Cairo]], the capital of [[Egypt]]]]
As of 2006, the Arab world accounts for two-fifths of the gross domestic product and three-fifths of the trade of the wider [[Muslim world]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

The Arab states are mostly, although not exclusively, developing economies and derive their export revenues from oil and gas, or the sale of other raw materials. Recent years have seen significant economic growth in the Arab World, due largely to an increase in oil and gas prices, which tripled between 2001 and 2006, but also due to efforts by some states to diversify their economic base. Industrial production has risen, for example the amount of steel produced between 2004 and 2005 rose from 8.4 to 19 million tonnes. (Source: Opening speech of Mahmoud Khoudri, [[Algeria]]'s Industry Minister, at the 37th General Assembly of the Iron & Steel Arab Union, Algiers, May 2006). However even 19 million tons pa still only represents 1.7% of global steel production, and remains inferior to the production of countries like [[Brazil]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldsteel.org |title=World Steel Association – Home |publisher=Worldsteel.org |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref>

The main economic organisations in the Arab World are the [[Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)]], comprising the states in the Persian Gulf, and the Union of the Arab Maghreb (UMA), made up of North African States. The GCC has achieved some success in financial and monetary terms, including plans to establish a common currency in the Persian Gulf region. Since its foundation in 1989, the UMA's most significant accomplishment has been the establishment of a 7,000&nbsp;km highway crossing North Africa from [[Mauritania]] to [[Libya]]'s border with [[Egypt]]. The central stretch of the highway, expected to be completed in 2010, will cross [[Morocco]], [[Algeria]] and [[Tunisia]]. In recent years a new term has been coined to define a greater economic region: the [[MENA]] region, standing for "Middle East and North Africa", is becoming increasingly popular, especially with support from the current US administration.[[File:Dubai Marina Skyline.jpg|thumb|The [[Emirate of Dubai]] is one of the seven emirates of the [[United Arab Emirates]]]]As of August 2009 it was reported that Saudi Arabia is the strongest Arab economy according to World Bank.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infoprod.co.il/article/2/283|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130182205/http://www.infoprod.co.il/article/2/283|url-status=dead|title=World Bank: Saudi Arabia, strongest Arab economy|archive-date=30 November 2009}}</ref>

[[Saudi Arabia]] remains the top Arab economy in terms of total GDP. It is Asia's eleventh largest economy, followed by [[Egypt]] and [[Algeria]], which were the second and third largest economies in Africa, after [[South Africa]], in 2006. In terms of GDP per capita, [[Qatar]] is the richest developing country in the world.<ref>CIA [[World Factbook]], GDP by country classification</ref>

The total GDP of all Arab countries in 1999 was US$531.2&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Lewis |first = Bernard |author-link = Bernard Lewis |title = The Crisis of Islam |publisher = [[Random House]] |year = 2004 |location = New York City |page = [https://archive.org/details/crisisofislam00bern/page/116 116] |isbn = 978-0-8129-6785-2 |title-link = The Crisis of Islam }}</ref> The total Arab world GDP was estimated to be worth at least $2.8&nbsp;trillion in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/05/147980.html |title=Poking at the Beast: How much is the Arab world worth? |work=Alarabiya News |last=El-Shenawi |first=Eman |date=5 May 2011 |access-date=19 August 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511195256/http://english.alarabiya.net:80/articles/2011/05/05/147980.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 }}</ref> This is only smaller than the GDP of the US, China, Japan and Germany.