I agree with u all , but i want to add something that make another reason for the problem . Which is the scintific researches , In the middle east countries there aren't any scintific researching to develop our life resources , " as light, energy ,agriculture ,...etc. ' I am sorry for that ,but all the middle east countries are workless, they used to base their scince on outside theories , they don't even try to do anything by themselfs , They seems helpless even there are too many good scintists in each country but for bad they arenot use them to develop them selves . They leave them for the developed countries to use . So we will stay undeveloped countries because we don't develop ourselves.

I agree with Harregarre....

In fact, the whole middle eastern economy depends on oil, that its exhaustion is a matter of time (25 years maximum)... Now imagine what will happen then, a full dependance or a sudden disappearance !!!

In the same sense economic growth is only nice when the entire economy is actually growing, not when they just increase oil output. Therefore I'm not too keen on the GDP growth rates as reported by many middle eastern countries.

Let's take a look at Kuwait for example. 80% of the revenue of the government is because of the oil reserves. Now imagine that oil suddenly becomes very cheap (for example, if scientists find a way to make cars work on water/solar power or electricity). The government of Kuwait will have to cut in their budget and the economy of Kuwait will be destroyed. It's nice to go easy when you can, but it's better to think of a plan to take care of the bad periods. In Saudi Arabia, another good example, oil amounts to 75% of the government revenue. Same thing as in Kuwait. If they run out of oil or if oil becomes useless the country will be destroyed. In Iran it's 45%, not as high as in Kuwait and SA, but still problematic if it falls away.

The problem is that countries in the Middle East are too one-dimensional. Most of the countries there rely on crude oil and are therefore very vulnerable when it comes to different sectors. Without oil the entire Middle East would probably collapse so perhaps it's time for the countries there to reassess their economies to come up with a growth plan that will help them reach a more developed state that doesn't solely depend on oil.