(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Around a million familes in GCC countries own around USD 1.2 trillion investable assets, among them 360,000 families each with over USD million assets, a report by Kuwait Finance House (KFH) said Friday.
The report, issued by KFH's research arm, said Kuwait was third in the Gulf in terms of assets, or USD 150 trillion.
"Islamic funds remain slow in the development of their structure and involvement in the market, despite growing demand on Islamic financial services in the region and world," it added.
It noted that the number of rich people in the Middle East rose by 2.7 percent, while value of their fortune grew by 0.7 percent to USD 1.7 trillion in 2011.
The nationalization of oil companies in the 1970s and rising oil prices, said the report, triggered GDP of the region and wealth of individuals to grow dramatically, driven by an annual growth of 16.5 percent, or USD 250.7 billion in 1980 to USD 1.4 trillion in 2011.
Per capita income also jumped from USD 21,400 in 1980 to USD 45,500 in 2011.
KFH said the largest number of wealthy families was in Saudi Arabia, or 625, 000, followed by the UAE ith 220,000 families then Kuwait with some 130,000 families.
Saudi Arabia has USD 500-550 billion in investable assets, while the number is USD 140 billion in Kuwait, said the report.
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