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Middle East Stocks Set to Climb: Beltone

DUBAI — Middle Eastern and North African stocks, which were hurt more than average by the global financial crisis, are poised to outperform developed markets due to the region’s growth potential, fund manager Beltone Financial said on Monday.

Governments in the Middle East and North Africa are focusing on stimulus packages for their economies rather than bailouts since financial institutions are solid and their exposure to toxic assets almost infinitesimal, said Aladdin Saba, CEO of Beltone Financial, which oversees $5 billion in assets under management. Saba, hosting an investment roadshow at the NYSE, said that unlike western economies, consumers in most of the region are not highly leveraged, if at all. Mortgage, credit card and auto loans are skimpy in comparison to the western world.

Thus, regional consumer demand will increase sooner and faster than in the US and Europe. “We see demand coming back. We are not saying we are totally out of the crisis, but we are saying that growth is back and consumer demand is stimulating the economy again.” The global crisis, which has wiped out huge wealth around the world, has been more acute for stock investors in the Arab world, especially in the rich Gulf. Arab bourses lost around $600 billion since early 2008, according to the departing head of the Union of Arab Bourses, and the index of Arab stock markets had lost 5.15 per cent more than the world average.