2019年全球经济放缓，海合会成员国除阿联酋外，实际GDP增长率均出现不同程度下降。新冠肺炎疫情使全球经济遭受重创，外部需求收缩、供应链受挫。作为全球主要石油输出地，海合会国家2020年经济遭受外部需求不足和年初油价暴跌的双重影响。2020年通货膨胀压力较小，失业率大幅上升，经济衰退。2020年中期以后，阿联酋与沙特采购经理人指数（PMI）开始回升，代表经济开始回暖。2020年沙特出台一系列改革措施，旨在推动其“2030愿景”。根据PEST模型，影响营商环境的因素除了经济环境外，还有政治、社会文化与技术环境。通过分析世界银行《营商环境报告》中海合会国家营商环境评分与排名指标（主要关注政策层面），发现2019年海合会诸国除阿联酋外，排名均有提升。疫情期间海合会各国政府纷纷推出宽松的财政政策与货币政策，刺激经济增长，重塑对外商投资吸引力。但同时，大量的财政支出加大了政府财政压力，财政赤字率将大幅上涨。在社会文化环境上，阿拉伯国家有其独特文化，外国投资者应了解当地文化。此外，海合会各国人力资本指数（代表劳动力的知识技能水平）为0.5～0.7（指数最低为0，最高为1）。在技术环境上各国科技发展水平各异，高科技产品出口占制造业总产出最高的国家为阿联酋。综上，大部分海合会国家营商环境在2019年有不同程度提升，提升最明显的为沙特。同时也应注意到，2020年疫情蔓延与石油价格走低给海合会各国经济带来的双重冲击，以及由于宽松的财政政策导致的财政压力风险。
With the slowdown of the world economy in 2019，real GDP of the GCC（Gulf Cooperation Council）countries decreases to different extent except UAE（the United Arab Emirates）. The COVID-19 pandemic leads to economic recession worldwide，with substantial reduction in external demand and disruption on supply chain. To worsen the situation，as the major oil exporters，GCC countries suffer from both the shrinking external demand and slumping oil price. As the economy goes into recession in 2020，inflation rate is low or even negative，and unemployment rate is high. PMI in UAE and Saudi Arabia starts increasing in the middle of 2020，signaling the recovery of the economy. In addition，Saudi Arabia implements a series of reform in 2020，with the aim of promoting its Vision 2030. Based on PEST，the macro business environment includes the economic factor discussed above，as well as political，cultural and technological factors. The Ease of Doing Business Score and Index provided by the World Bank（which focus on political factors）indicate that the ranking of all the GCC countries except UAE have increased in 2019. GCC governments implement expansionary fiscal and monetary policies in 2020 to boost the economies and improve business environment. Yet with a large amount of government expenditure，fiscal burden will be significant in some GCC countries，i.e.，fiscal deficit will widen significantly. In terms of the cultural factor，international investors need to pay attention to the unique culture in Arab countries. Additionally，human capital index that represents the knowledge and skill of labor is between 0.5 and 0.7 in GCC countries（with 0 as the lowest and 1 as the highest）. Technological development in GCC countries varies，and high-technology export（calculated as the proportion to manufacturing output）is the highest in UAE. Overall，business environment in most GCC countries improves to different extents in 2019，improvement in Saudi Arabia being the most prominent. Yet at the same time，the pandemic brings great impact to the GCC economies and expansionary fiscal policies may lead to fiscal burden and risk.
