The United Arab Emirates accounts for approximately 47.3 per cent of the Arab exchange companies, according to the latest statistics from the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).

The Fund reported that the total assets of the exchange sector in Arab countries reached around $4.7 billion in 2023, reflecting a slight growth of 0.02 per cent compared to 2022.

The capital of the exchange companies sector in Arab countries increased to approximately $2.9 billion by the end of last year, representing a growth of 3.6 per cent compared to around $2.8 billion in 2022.

The Arab Monetary Fund recently reported a significant growth in the assets of the banking sector in the Arab countries, rising to $4.574 trillion at the end of 2023, up from $4.355 trillion in 2022, marking a 5 per cent growth.

The AMF’s Financial Stability Report for Arab countries highlights that banks in the UAE hold the largest share of the Arab banking sector’s assets with 24.3 per cent, followed closely by Saudi banks with 23.1 per cent. Additionally, the banking sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is projected to represent 73.1 per cent of the total assets by the end of 2023.

The report added that the growth in the assets of the Arab banking sector reflects the confidence of customers and the market in the banking sector, as the sector was able to achieve this growth despite the current regional and global instability.

The report attributed the growth in assets to the increase in banking sector assets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which account for 58.9 per cent of total assets in the Arab banking sector.

Banks in the UAE and Saudi Arabia ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of achieving the largest asset growth rate in the Arab banking sector at the end of last year compared to 2022.

The report indicated that the UAE banking sector’s asset growth rate reached 11 per cent as a result of the growth of total credit and investments, while the Saudi banking sector’s asset growth reached 9.3 per cent, driven by the rise in real estate loans by 11.5 per cent and credit growth in other economic sectors.

WB’s Abu Dhabi office: Ali Abdullah Sharafi, Assistant Under-Secretary of the International Financial Relationship Sector at the Ministry of Finance (MoF), highlighted the Ministry’s commitment to enhancing its strategic partnership with the World Bank to help achieve its ambitious development objectives.

On the sidelines of a workshop organised by the World Bank Group in partnership with the MoF at the Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy, Sharafi said that this joint cooperation contributes to achieving more achievements and successes for the UAE.

WAM