JEDDAH, 19 March 2006 — The number of billionaires in the world is increasing thanks to the recent global economic boom. Their number in the past year rose by 15 percent to 793 billionaires, according to Forbes. The combined net worth of the 793 billionaires on the Forbes’ list is $2.6 trillion with American billionaires accounting for almost half of the global wealth.
The total number of Middle Eastern billionaires on the list is 48. The combined fortune of the Middle Easterners is $146.6 billion; this is 5.6 percent of the entire wealth of all the 793 billionaires.
The total net worth of the 21 Arab billionaires on the list is $103.2 billion. They hold 3.9 percent of the $2.6 trillion of the total worldwide billionaires’ wealth.
Out of the 21 rich Arabs, 18 reside in the Gulf with 11 in Saudi Arabia, four in the United Arab Emirates and three in Kuwait.
The only Arab billionaires outside the Gulf are Onsi and Nagib Sawiris and Lebanese Hind Hariri, the youngest billionaire in the World. Hind’s brothers Saad and Ayman, who joined the list after inheriting their father vast wealth, are both Saudi citizens and they are residing in the Kingdom.
The 11 Saudi billionaires have a combined net worth of $67.6 billion. This is 46 percent of the entire fortune of all Middle Eastern billionaires.
The eldest Saudi billionaire is 94 years old and the youngest is the 27-year old Ayman Hariri, the son of the assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The average age of the Saudi billionaires is 59 years. However, if the two young sons of Rafik Hariri are excluded, the average age of Saudi billionaires increases to 68 years.
In Egypt, the Sawiris family dominate the scene with Onsi and his son Nagib the only two Egyptians on the list with net worth of $7.4 billion. Onsi, the founder of Orascom Group, serves as non-executive board director of Egypt’s largest telecommunication and construction group.
Most of Orascom Group’s success comes from its telecommunication division. Orascom Telecom invested in the cellular business in Iraq and it has 11 million mobile phone subscribers throughout the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.
According to Forbes, Nagib bought a $1.3 billion stake in Hutchison Whampoa causing concerns among some Israelis who didn’t like the idea of Arabs holding a stake in Hutchison’s Israeli cellular carrier, Partner Communications.
