JEDDAH, 10 April 2005 — The regional stock markets and real estate sectors, which have both seen sustained growth, were “moving into bubble territory,” according to the latest survey carried out by HSBC-MEED.
Regional stock markets and real estate sectors were a particular theme taken up in the current HSBC — MEED Middle East Business Confidence Index, which is updated three times a year. The next survey would be carried out in May.
MEED said that the regional stock markets and real estate sectors were reaching a turning point.
The results of the survey of 740 business leaders from around the region termed as “panelists,” carried out in the last two weeks of February, were analyzed by YouGov, a leading UK-based market research agency.
Panelists included commercial managers, procurement executives, recruitment executives and financial officers as well as CEOs and chairmen of domestic and international companies.
The principal countries covered by the survey were Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, and Jordan. These nations correspond to the principal markets for the Saudi British Bank (an associate company of the HSBC Group) and MEED, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, and HSBC Bank Egypt.
The survey showed that there has been a continued increase in business confidence in the region.
Published in the Middle East Economic Digest, it showed that the HSBC-MEED Middle East Business Confidence Index, set at 100 when it was launched in June last year, has now reached 107.53. The index is based on an online questionnaire that seeks views on a wide range of issues facing businesses in the Middle East.
These include economic prospects, drivers of change, the commercial potential of Iraq, regulation and liberalization in the region’s economies, profitability, turnover and expectations for cross-border trade.