LONDON: The number of millionaires in the Middle East rose by 4.8 percent last year as it rained dollars for high net worth individuals globally, research shows.
The World Wealth Report by global consultancy firm Capgemini revealed that there are now 642,800 high net worth individuals (HNWI) — people with assets of $1 million, excluding their primary residence, collectibles and consumables — across the Middle East.
The rise, however, was the smallest of any region in the world, with the number of millionaires globally having leapt to an all-time high of 16.5 million.
Africa saw an 8.1 percent increase in the number of millionaires, North America an 7.8 percent jump, with Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific all seeing a rise of between 7 and 8 percent.
The wealth of Middle Eastern millionaires rose by 5 percent to $2.42 trillion; that increase was however also the lowest of any global region.
Saudi Arabia has the most millionaires of all Middle Eastern countries, with 176,000 living in the Kingdom, up from 167,000 in 2015. That figure puts it in at 16th in the table of countries hosting HNWIs, a drop from 15th place in 2015.
Kuwait is the only other country from the region to make the top 25, in at 17th with 159,000 millionaires, 13,000 more than the year before.
The reason for the increase in Middle Eastern millionaires, at a time when the oil price fell, was the strong performance of equity markets in 2016, after declines in the previous year, as well as the growth in gross domestic product (GDP).
Globally it was a good year for those with stacks of cash, as some 1.15 million people joined the ranks of the rich, helping the number of millionaires reach an all-time high of around 16.5 million, a jump of 8 percent, with a record total wealth of $63.5 trillion
The US, Japan, Germany and China boast the highest numbers and together make up for almost two-thirds of the total.
In the US alone there are as many as 4.8 million millionaires, up from 4.46 million, while the number of millionaires in China rose to 1.13 million from just over 1 million.
The Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America contributed equally to the rise in wealth, with Russia, Brazil and Canada reversing course from declines a year ago, the report showed.
Russia, helped by a rebound in its stock market, saw both the number of its millionaires and their wealth grow by about 20 percent, pushing Saudi Arabia back a spot in the top-25 table.
France overtook the UK in the top five in terms of the number of millionaires, helped by a recovery in real estate, while Sweden knocked Singapore — which saw a decline in its equity markets — out of top 25.
Middle East millionaire club grows as combined riches top $2.42 trillion
Middle East millionaire club grows as combined riches top $2.42 trillion
Fledgling radio station aims to be ‘voice of the people’ in Gaza
- The electricity crisis is one of the most serious and difficult problems in the Gaza Strip, says Shereen Khalifa Broadcaster
DEIR EL-BALAH: From a small studio in the central city of Deir El-Balah, Sylvia Hassan’s voice echoes across the Gaza Strip, broadcast on one of the Palestinian territory’s first radio stations to hit the airwaves after two years of war.
Hassan, a radio host on fledgling station “Here Gaza,” delivers her broadcast from a well-lit room, as members of the technical team check levels and mix backing tracks on a sound deck. “This radio station was a dream we worked to achieve for many long months and sometimes without sleep,” Hassan said.
“It was a challenge for us, and a story of resilience.”
Hassan said the station would focus on social issues and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which remains grave in the territory despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas since October.
“The radio station’s goal is to be the voice of the people in the Gaza Strip and to express their problems and suffering, especially after the war,” said Shereen Khalifa, part of the broadcasting team.
“There are many issues that people need to voice.” Most of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people were displaced at least once during the gruelling war.
Many still live in tents with little or no sanitation.
The war also decimated Gaza’s telecommunications and electricity infrastructure, compounding the challenges in reviving the territory’s local media landscape. “The electricity problem is one of the most serious and difficult problems in the Gaza Strip,” said Khalifa.
“We have solar power, but sometimes it doesn’t work well, so we have to rely on an external generator,” she added.
The station’s launch is funded by the EU and overseen by Filastiniyat, an organization that supports Palestinian women journalists, and the media center at the An-Najah National University in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
The station plans to broadcast for two hours per day from Gaza and for longer from Nablus. It is available on FM and online.
Khalifa said that stable internet access had been one of the biggest obstacles in setting up the station, but that it was now broadcasting uninterrupted audio.
The Gaza Strip, a tiny territory surrounded by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, has been under Israeli blockade even before the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to strictly control the entry of all goods and people to the territory.
“Under the siege, it is natural that modern equipment necessary for radio broadcasting cannot enter, so we have made the most of what is available,” she said.
