This article examines real convergence hypothesis in OPEC countries (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela) by means of using time series techniques and allowing for structural breaks. The results show the existence of structural breaks in the convergence process, most of them occurring around 1979-81, which suggests that this convergence process is related to the evolution of the oil price. Furthermore, when applying unit root tests allowing for structural breaks, we only find evidence of catch-up towards the U.S. economy for the case of Indonesia, and for Angola in the last years of the sample. When we define alternative reference economies, we also find evidence of conditional convergence with structural breaks, but only for Nigeria within Africa and for Kuwait relative to countries in West-Asia.
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