Five more Arabs join Forbes' billionaires club

Dubai: The Arab world's 32 billionaires have $95.5 billion wealth in their hands, according to Forbes Middle East.

Five new Arabs joined the billionaires club including Damac Group's Hussain Sajwani from the UAE.

Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia remains the wealthiest Arab in the world, even though his net worth fell by more than 20 per cent from a year ago.

The past year was unkind to billionaires all over the world, including the Middle East, where Arab billionaires saw their net worth drop by 23.8 per cent from a year ago.

Forbes Middle East added five new billionaires, including Hussain Sajwani from the UAE, Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani of Qatar, and Oman's Suhail Bahwan.

At 7, Lebanon has the most billionaires, making it also one the countries with the highest number of billionaires per capita in the world. Saudi billionaires are the richest with a combined net worth of $34.6 billion. The second richest are from the UAE with a combined net worth of $19.7 billion.

Ranked third, Egypt has got 6 billionaires with a combined wealth of $14.2 billion. At fourth position, Lebanon has 7 billionaires with a combined wealth of $12.5 billion. Oman has 3 with $6.2 billion, Morocco has 2 with $3.2 billion, Algeria has one with $3.1 billion and Qatar also has one worth $2 billion.

Families remain pillars of Arab economies, providing jobs and stability. Saudi Arabia again tops the rich list, with 12 of the 15 richest families. Nine out of the 15 families made a fortune owning licensing rights to foreign brands, mostly American.

New Arab billionaires' list include Suhail Bahwan (Oman) with net worth $3.4 billion, Hussain Sajwani (UAE) net worth $3.2 billion, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani (Qatar) net worth $2 billion, Abdul Wahid Al Rostamani (UAE) net worth $1.3 billion, and Mohammed Saud Bahwan (Oman) net worth $1.3 billion.