RIYADH, 19 February — Hamad Al-Sayyari, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, has called for measures to overcome the challenges facing the Saudi stock market, so that it gears itself up for the Kingdom's privatization program.
The SAMA governor was delivering his keynote speech at the Fifth annual investment symposium, "Saudi Arabia --2001 and beyond" at the SAMA Institute of Banking here yesterday.
Top bank executives and economists attended the one-day symposium which dwelt on the challenges confronting the privatization program. The speakers stressed the need for enlarging the Saudi stock market to create more liquidity in the market and push forward the privatization program for boosting economic growth.
This, they felt, was possible as the Saudi economy was experiencing a stable growth rate, making it an attractive proposition for domestic and overseas investors.
Al-Sayyari said the Saudi share market had come a long way during the last ten years.
According to Dr. Fahad Al-Mubarak, a member of the Shoura Council and executive partner at Malaz Group, the Saudi stock market, which has a listing of 75 companies, is the biggest in the Middle East with a capitalization of SR250 billion. The cumulative value of the shares traded last year was SR65 billion, or 25 percent of the Middle East market.
The SAMA governor said the symposium served to highlight the changes in the world economy, especially on the stock market front. It also provided an opportunity for Saudi banks to offer investment options to the Saudis.
Earlier, Dr. Abdullatif Al-Ghaith, director-general of the SAMA Institute of Banking, explained the objective of the symposium: to evaluate the impact of privatization on the Saudi economy and the stock market.
He said the Institute had come up with certification programs to qualify Saudi personnel for the needs of the banking industry. He mentioned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) course, which is internationally recognized. The level of Saudization in banks is around 70 percent and improving annually.
In his presentation on the impact of privatization program on the Saudi stock market, Dr. Fahad Al-Mubarak described privatization as part of the overall economic reforms in the Kingdom. He said the objective was to prune government expenditure, extend budgetary coverage to other sectors and reduce government subsidies.
Dr. Henry T. Azzam, chief economist and managing director of Lebanon-based Middle East Capital Group, spoke on the "Prospects of sustainable economic growth in Saudi Arabia" and said the biggest impact of under-investment in the last decade has been the rapid rise of unemployment rate.
