JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia is ranked 7th in the 2015 Islamic Growth Markets Investment Index which ranks countries investment potential relatively within the OIC member country grouping, Thomson Reuters Dinar Standard Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report 2015 revealed Tuesday. The Index is based on a set of nine metrics covering the categories of a country's growth fundamentals, growth momentum, investment momentum and relative country risk. The index highlighted 0% relative country risk for the KSA market. Indonesia showed the strongest growth fundamentals among the top three having the highest population (249 million, 2013) and GDP ($870 billion, current US$, 2013), while Malaysia the strongest growth and investment momentum (217% FDI inflows growth 2009-13). GCC economies led by UAE are also on the top ten list including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Other markets on the top 10 include Kazakhstan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and Mozambique. Dr. Sayd Farook, the Global Head of Islamic Capital market at Thomson Reuters said: “The purpose of the Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report 2015 is to present a new view of looking at investment opportunities across the OIC member countries (57 member mostly Muslim majority.) Focused on fast growing consumer driven sector clusters of Food, Retail, Tourism, Health and others, as well as government spending driven infrastructure & construction, the Report addresses a gap of looking at investment opportunities across the full geographic spectrum of these growth markets and their global value chain.” In order to leverage this widely dispersed yet connected opportunity landscape, the Report presents DinarStandard's OIC Industry Clusters Model that is a sector based investment strategy. It identifies unique region-wide roll-up, carve-out, growth, operation-value-creation and alliance opportunities across a sector's value chain. The top OIC sector clusters identified are: energy, food & agriculture, electronics, travel & transportation, metals, chemical & allied, plastics/rubber, textiles & related, infrastructure & construction, and health products & services. The opportunities cover greenfield project investments as well in fast maturing domestic companies across these sectors. Rafi-uddin Shikoh, DinarStandard added: “A rich mix of corporates from Islamic growth markets are fast maturing and ripe for growth investments. Tasnee and SABIC are chemical global leaders fast growing in energy downstream sectors; Yildiz Holding/Ulker, Savola Group, Indofood, Felda, Almarai are globally competitive food and agriculture companies; Emirates Group, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines are major growth airlines; and Emke Group – Lulu, BIM, Majid Al Futtaim are emerging as regional retail giants. Thousands of such companies are ready to take their experiences propositions global.” Key profile and opportunity highlights of top three sectors clusters are as follows: • Energy sector leads with high value of exports Energy is the largest OIC sector cluster by virtue of aggregate score derived from exports volume, imports and domestic consumption across OIC markets. Energy sector cluster exports were the highest within OIC worth $1.3 trillion in 2013 representing 43% of global exports. Exports grew 109% between 2009-13. Primary opportunity areas identified: Renewable sector EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) Services & O&M (Operation & Maintenance companies); Solar/ Wind farm; Bio-energy innovative solutions; Energy storage solutions. • Domestic demand drives OIC food sector Food & Agriculture is the second largest OIC sector cluster. Sector exports were $118 billion in 2013 representing 8% of global exports and grew 42% CAGR between 2009-13. Domestic demand value from food sector across OIC is the highest among all sector clusters and estimated at $974 billion representing 16% of global food consumption. Primary opportunity areas identified: Retail (Supermarkets/ Hypermarkets); Edible oil production; Halal Meat & offal; Food waste/ animal fodder; Prepared cereals, diary; Sugar and sugar confectionary; Cocoa and cocoa products • Travel sector foresees high growth Travel & Transportation is the third largest OIC sector cluster (tied with Electronics). Sector exports were $192 billion in 2013 and the second highest compared to other ten Clusters representing 6% of global exports. Primary opportunity areas identified: Auto parts manufacturing; Airline services/ ecosystem; Family-friendly hotels/resorts (Muslim-friendly); Hotel development in top growth markets. — SG
