Despite the economic uncertainty the minimum fortune required for entry into the Arabian Business Rich List 2009 has risen by $400m in a year.
Kuwait’s Alghanim Family props up the rankings at number 50, with a fortune of $1.5bn. Last year, the entry level to break into the illustrious list was $1.1bn.
The figures are revealed in the Arabian Business 2009 Rich List, which will be published in the print edition on Sunday.
The list shows that the average fortune of the top 50 has risen to $4.14bn. In total, the top 50 now hold between them $207bn – a rise of almost four percent on last year.
But were it not for the performance of a few superstars, the figures would be very different. Of the 35 entrants that remain on the list from last year, 20 are actually worse off than they were 12 months ago.
The collapse in the value of property and banking shares – the bedrock of Arab wealth for much of the past decade – is cited as the biggest reason for the troubles of some of the Arab world’s leading business empires.
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