MSCI emerging-markets status inclusion of Saudi Arabia to attract $40bln FDI to country’s capital market | ZAWYA MENA Edition

MSCI emerging-markets status inclusion of Saudi Arabia to attract $40bln FDI to country’s capital market | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Post-oil Saudi Arabia successfully launched economic reforms that gained massive attention of global investor confidence. Opening of Saudi Arabia is a milestone for the Kingdom’s economy, which brought a strategic $90.29 billion investment and trade ties between Britain and Saudi Arabia implanted in coming years. Bilateral ties will have positive repercussions on the UAE and GCC market.

Salah Shamma, Head of Investment, MENA Equity, Franklin Templeton UAE, said: “MSCI emerging-markets status inclusion of Saudi expected to attract $40 billion FDI to kingdom’s capital market, which is larger than some of the bigger emerging markets such as Russia and has strongly positive impact on UAE and other GCC market economies. 2.6% of MSCI Benchmark Index for the kingdom is a game-changer.”

“The recent upgradation of Saudi equity markets by the MSCI to its group of emerging markets will help the country attract billions of dollars into MENA’s biggest stock exchange, which has a market capitalization of $500 billion. Despite risks, the country has already received the attention of the global investor community and following further reforms, we expect the Kingdom’s economy to attract a large pool of investment and talent pool to spearhead the execution of large-scale projects. These developments offer greater opportunities for the global investor community – who are already taking note of the changes and have already started to shift their investments in to the GCC,” said William Mullally.