From Gulfnews.com: Gulf banks are estimated to have made provisions worth $9.4 billion (Dh34.5 billion) for 2009, a 40 per cent increase over the previous year due to credit losses and a five-fold increase over the modest $1.8 billion provisions made in 2007, according figures collated by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz).

The 61 banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) made provisions worth $6.41 billion in the first three quarters of last year during which provisions continued to rise quarter-on-quarter…………………………………..Full Article: Source