By Mohammed Abu Meleeh

Riyadh-Mubasher: Standards & Poor's (S&P) expects the commercial debts of four GCC countries to decline in 2015 compared with 2014.

However, the agency forecasts the commercial debts of two GCC courtiers as well as those of Egypt to rise.

The debts of Saudi Arabia are likely to fall by 35.25% to $10.3 billion, compared with $15.9 billion in 2014.

Abu Dhabi's debts are also expected to decrease by 11.54% year-on-year from $5.2 billion to $4.6 billion.

In addition, the debts of Qatar and Kuwait are seen falling by 19.41% and 7.14%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's debts are likely to rise by 19.72% y/y from $14.2 billion to $17 billion.

Oman's debts are expected to increase by 7.89% y/y from $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion.

Accordingly, the GCC commercial debts will rise by 12.52% to $65.7 billion, compared with $75.1 billion a year earlier.

As for Egypt, its total debts will rise by 16.44% to $298.9 billion at the end of 2015, compared with $256.7 billion in 2014. The country's long-term debts dropped from $33.4 billion to $27.2 billion at 2014-end.

Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla