(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The fifth Middle East Securities Forum (MESF) 2014, organised by ICBI Events in association with the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the Muscat Securities Market (MSM), commenced at Al Bustan Palace Hotel on Tuesday.
In his speech, Ahmed Saleh al Marhoon, director general, MSM, said the performance of the Arab stock markets has been in line with the positive performance of the global stock markets. Total market capitalisation increased to U$1.14tn, compared with US$941bn by the end of 2012, posting a 21 per cent growth.
"The Omani economy continues to grow at rates higher than the growth rate of global economy, supported by factors such as an increase in oil production, stability of prices, incentives by the government and sound monetary policies,'' said Marhoon.
''All these factors contributed to the growth and stability of the Omani economy in 2013 and resulted in a 3.1 per cent increase in the real growth rates in 2011, 4.8 per cent in 2012 and five per cent in 2013. Non-oil activities also grew by 5.6 per cent in 2013, compared with 5.4 per cent in 2012, he added.
Marhoon said, ''The UAE has been the best performing Arab market in 2013. All the GCC stock markets, without exceptions, closed on a high note with the market value of the
GCC markets amounting to US$938bn in 2013, compared with US$780bn in 2012, a growth of 20 per cent. The market value for these markets constituted 85 per cent of the value of the total Arab markets,''
A number of economists and specialists in the capital markets from various international organisations are taking part in the two-day conference.
The forum will cover a number of topics related to changes in the region and its impact on economies in general, and the Gulf securities markets in particular. It will also review the main developments in the world and Middle East markets. Furthermore, It will also highlight Islamic investment tools and the challenges facing the securities markets.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.