- Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Quweiz: These expected inflows are part of the remaining funds, and the other active investments will move after the decision to upgrade
- Al-Quweiz: The number of foreign investors has tripled in anticipation of the market being upgraded to emerging market indices
LONDON: Saudi Arabia could attract inflows of as much as $50 billion according to the Kingdom’s markets chief.
Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Quweiz, the president of Saudi Capital Market Authority, said he expected inflows of around $30-$50 billion because of the recent upgrade in emerging market indices.
He made the prediction in an interview with Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“These expected inflows are part of the remaining funds, and the other active investments will move after the decision to upgrade,” he told the channel.
He said “the foreign investor will be able to own more than 50 percent of Saudi companies” adding that this will attract more foreign inflows to the Saudi financial market.
“The number of foreign investors has tripled in anticipation of the market being upgraded to emerging market indices,” Al-Quweiz said.
He said that there are more than 450 foreign investors in the Saudi market.
Saudi Arabia has launched a number of market reforms aimed at boosting the involvement of foreign investors in the Tadawul — the Kingdom’s stock market which has the largest capitalization in the region.
Al-Quweiz said that the percentage of foreign ownership in the Saudi stock market is currently about 5 percent.