MUSCAT: Oman was ranked 14th on the inaugural 2015 Islamic Growth Markets Investments Index, which ranks countries’ investment potential relative to other members within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Index is based on a set of nine metrics covering the categories of a country’s growth fundamentals, growth momentum, investment momentum and relative country risk. The index highlighted zero per cent relative country risk for the Omani market, latest report by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Dinar Standard, an Islamic markets research & advisory firm. They presented the key findings of Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report 2015 during the Global Islamic Investment Gateway conference in Bahrain.
Indonesia showed the strongest growth fundamentals among the top three having the highest population and GDP, while Malaysia had the strongest growth and investment momentum. Among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies led by UAE are also on the top 10 list including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Other markets on the top 10 include Kazakhstan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and Mozambique.
In order to leverage this widely dispersed yet connected opportunity landscape, the report presents DinarStandard’s OIC Industry Clusters Model that is a sector based investment strategy. It identifies unique region-wide roll-up, carve-out, growth, operation-value-creation and alliance opportunities across a sector’s value chain.
The top OIC sector clusters identified are: Energy, Food & Agriculture, Electronics, Travel & Transportation, Metals, Chemical & Allied, Plastics/Rubber, Textiles & related, Infrastructure & Construction, and Health Products & Services. The opportunities cover greenfield project investments as well in fast maturing domestic companies across these sectors.
Rafi-uddin Shikoh, DinarStandard adds, “A rich mix of corporates from Islamic growth markets are fast maturing and ripe for growth investments. Tasnee and SABIC are chemical global leaders fast growing in energy downstream sectors; Yildiz Holding/Ulker, Savola Group, Indofood, Felda, Almarai are globally competitive food and agriculture companies; Emirates Group, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines are major growth airlines; and Emke Group – Lulu, BIM, Majid Al Futtaim are emerging as regional retail giants. Thousands of such companies are ready to take their experiences propositions global.”
