RIYADH: A new multinational survey out of Riyadh put a number on something the Gulf’s business community has felt building for months: outside investors are not hedging their bets on the region, they are doubling down on them.
The poll, run by Consulum with HarrisX across 2,043 active investors in the US, UK, Germany, France and China, found that 82 percent are confident in the Gulf’s economic outlook, with China, the US and the UK the most bullish.
Beyond sentiment, 69 percent rate the region as a good or great place to invest right now, and 70 percent expect the GCC’s global economic weight to keep growing over the next five years.
The findings sit alongside a Consulum and HarrisX poll of residents across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain in May that found domestic confidence running even higher, as 90 percent said their country is on the right track and 89 percent were confident in the economic outlook.
In an interview with Arab News, the CEO of Consulum James Davies said international investors are looking beyond “short-term geopolitical volatility” and taking a long-term view of the Gulf.
