UAE Millionaires Shrink 12.7pc

The UAE’s population of millionaires shrank by 12.7 per cent to 67,000 last year, as the ranks of the wealthy across the world thinned out amid the global economic downturn.

In the Middle East, total High Net Worth Individuals, or HNWI population, dropped to 373,600 and their wealth declined 16.2 per cent to $1.4 trillion, according to the latest annual World Wealth report by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini.

“The fall in UAE’s HNWI was steeper than the Middle East average of 5.9 per cent as the result of a huge contraction in market capitalisation as well as the overall drop in real estate prices and rentals,” said Amir H. Sadr, head of Middle East Global Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch. “Besides, UAE HNWIs had heavy investment in Asia and Europe where economic conditions were even more challenging,” he said.