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- Al Balooshi: 7 Billion Dirhams of institutional and foreign investments in ADX during the first 6 months of 2016
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China have exceptional relationships and the commercial exchange between the two nations exceeds 257 billion dirhams
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considered a key player in the implementation of the Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.
- The Chinese investors’ trading activities in ADX have reached 600 million dirhams within a two year period.
His Excellency Rashed Al Blooshi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), stated that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoys a strong relationship with China and mentioned that the value of trade between the two countries has reached 257 billion dirhams last year. He further confirmed that the two sides are keen on reinforcing their mutual cooperation in economy and investment over the coming periods.
Al Blooshi invited the Chinese investors to invest in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange as it offers huge opportunities and substantial benefits to the investors. He also added that the value of institutional and foreign investment in the Exchange has reached 7 billion dirhams during the first half of 2016.
Moreover, he explained that the number of Chinese investors in ADX has reached 251 investors by the end of the first half of 2016, 12 of whom are institutions. On the other hand, the value of those investors’ trading activities has reached over 600 million dirhams during the period between 2014 and 2015 while their net investment hit the 367 million dirhams mark.
Al Blooshi pointed out that the market value of the companies’ shares that are traded in the Exchange has reached approximately 450 billion dirhams (122 billion USDs) by the end of July, 2016, whereas the net profits made by the companies exceeded 17 billion dirhams in the first half of the same year. On the other hand, the Exchange’s General Index achieved a growth by over 6% which led the Exchange to occupy the second place in the Arab gulf countries’ markets and the Middle East in general.
Furthermore, Al Blooshi stated that the UAE is considered a major player in the implementation of the “Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Route” that aim to facilitate commercial and investment exchange, reinforce diplomatic relationships between the countries of central and south Asia, Africa and Europe, reinforce growth opportunities along the ancient “Silk Route” that used to link the Arab and Chinese cultures together over the last decades. He also emphasized the importance of the UAE’s role in the implementation of the Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative given the fact that the UAE is considered a commercial and financial center on the global level due to its uniquely strategic location on the map.
ADX CEO announced his statements regarding this matter during his participation in China Investment Conference 2016 which was held at the end of last week in the city of Shanghai in which a considerable number of Chinese officials participated. The Conference’s agenda included the discussion of the Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative and the UAE’s role in its implementation as well as looking into the investment opportunities available in the UAE and Abu Dhabi. The participants also discussed the means to reinforce cooperation between Abu Dhabi-based financial and economic institutions and those based in China, in addition to presenting the opportunities that ADX provides and the great achievements that have been made during more than a decade. Additionally, a detailed presentation was delivered which explained the attractive investment environment that the UAE and Abu Dhabi offers, particularly to Chinese investments.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s participation in the Forum comes as part of its contributions to the fulfillment of the Emirate’s objectives to promote the competitive environment of doing business in the UAE and attract investments. This participation also comes as part of the Exchange’s commitment to Abu Dhabi’s Plan which aims to achieve a financial system that supports the development process in Abu Dhabi by means of developing the financial services sector in the Emirate.
As Al Blooshi explained, the UAE maintains strong relationships with China which is considered the UAE’s second biggest commercial partner with a commercial trading of USD 70 billion (257 billion dirhams) in 2015. While the UAE represents a point of access for nearly 60% of the Chinese exports into the region in general.
Furthermore, Al Blooshi mentioned that the UAE is one of the main states that took part in laying the strong foundations for the implantation of the Silk Route Initiative through its participation in the establishment of the “Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank” at the end of 2015. The Bank is headquartered in Beijing and has an authorized capital of USD 100 billion; it focuses on investments in energy, electricity generation, transportation, rural infrastructure, environment protection and logistics.
In addition to that, an agreement was signed last year between Abu Dhabi and China whereby the “Joint Strategic Investment Fund” was established with a total value of USD 10 billion. The Fund, which is equally by the government of Abu Dhabi and China, aims to create a balanced portfolio that contains diverse commercial investments and covers various sectors.
By the end of 2014, the total amount of direct UAE investments in China reached 1.15 billion USDs, and there are over 4,000 different Chinese companies from various fields that are currently operating in the UAE. On the other hand, the total amount of direct Chinese investments in the UAE reached 1.66 billion USDs with an increase by 85.62 million USDs during the same year.
Regarding economic activity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Blooshi said that the numbers provided by the Emirate’s Statistics Center indicated that the total value of the Emirate’s external non-oil trade during the first quarter of 2016 has increased and reached 43.92 billion dirhams, compared to 42.01 billion dirhams in the same period of 2015 with an increase of 1.91 billion dirhams and a growth by 4.5%.
China was ranked first with respect to non-oil exports through the Emirate of Abu Dhabi with a total value of 1.82 billion dirhams during the first three months of 2016 with a record increase of 131.4% compared to 784.7 million dirhams during the same period of 2015.
During the discussion session in which he participated, Al Blooshi presented detailed explanation of the UAE economy which is still considered the one with the most growth rates in the Middle East. The UAE economy managed to accomplish that despite the great challenges that the global economy currently faces due to the diversity policy that the country has been adopting for years. Such policy aims to maximize the non-oil sectors’ productivity, a technique that proved massively successful after the contribution of the oil sector in the Gross Domestic Product shrank to around 30% by the end of last year according to the reports of the international financial institutions.
Moreover, Al Blooshi said that despite the drop in oil prices and the challenges that the global economy faces in general, the international reports, including the latest one which was issued by the World Bank in July 2016, have shown that the economic foundations in the United Arab Emirates remain solid and strong due to the strength of its banking system, the low debt and the relative diversity that sets the Emirati economy apart from other economies. He also emphasized that all of these elements form a shield that protects the UAE against potential recession.
According to estimations, the UAE economy’s growth rate will reach 2.7% during the year 2016, and 3.1% in 2017. Also, as per the figures issued by the “Trading Economics”, the rate of growth in the UAE’s Gross Domestic Product has reached 2.5% during the first quarter of 2016. Predictions indicate that, on the
According to predictions, the trade balance of the UAE has reached 455718.09 million dirhams at the end of the first quarter of 2016. On the long-run, predictions indicate that the trade balance will reach 580106.85 million dirhams in 2020.
Moreover, the total foreign investment has reached 770.63 billion dirhams at the end of 2014, indicating an increase by 11.8% from last year. Direct foreign investment balance represented approximately 48% of the total investments, with a growth rate of 12.1% from last year.
Chinese Investment in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)
With respect to the foreign and institutional investment in ADX, the net investment of this category of investors has reached nearly 7 billion dirhams during the first half of 2016 which reflects the degree of attractiveness that the Exchange enjoys and the huge return that can be obtained through investment in the Exchange.
Al Blooshi stated that the huge return that can be achieved through investment in ADX has contributed to attracting large numbers of foreign individual and institutional investors over the last period. The total number of investors in the Exchange has reached 960 thousand by the end of the first half of 2016, 5,000 of whom were foreign institutions. He also pointed out that the value of the cash dividends distributed to investors by the companies that are listed in the Exchange has reached nearly 22 billion dirhams during the year 2015, making it one of the highest returns in the Arab gulf region and the Middle East in general.
Regarding the activity of Chinese investors in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, it has been found that their numbers have reached 251 investors by the end of the first half of 2016, 12 of whom were institutions. On the other hand, the total value of their trading activities has reached over 600 million dirhams in the period between 2014 and 2015 while their net investments reached 367 million dirhams.
During the meetings that were organized as part of the Conference, Al Blooshi urged the Chinese businessmen, investors and investment funds’ leaders to invest in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange which the attendants accepted after they were made familiar with the investment principles that the Exchange adopts and the returns that can be obtained through such investment, particularly in light of the huge returns that the listed companies distribute to the investors every year.
Furthermore, Al Blooshi explained that Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange operates according to the latest systems and legislations that cope with the international best practices and in such a way as to ensure transparency in interactions and the investors’ rights. Work is still underway to keep up with updates in the financial markets sector globally. His Excellency further stated that the achievements that the Exchange has made over the last period serve as a motivation to upgrade it amongst emerging markets with respect to several global indexes, the latest of which was the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).
He also added that the Exchange, through coordination with the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority, has devised an action plan for upgrade within the advanced markets over the upcoming period. The Exchange was able to achieve much in this regard; however, efforts are still being made to achieve the desired goal.
