RIYADH — Mohammed Elkuwaiz, chairman of the Board of the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), revealed that the authority achieved the highest rate of strategic plan targets in 2022. "By the end of 2022, CMA was able to achieve higher completion rates than the targets of its strategic plan for the same year in a number of indicators," he said while announcing that CMA is currently working on developing its strategic plan for the period from 2024 to 2026. In a statement issued on the occasion of the 93rd National Day of Saudi Arabia, Elkuwaiz said that the number of listings on the financial market reached 49 listings in 2022, while the target was 24 listings, with a completion rate of 204 percent. "The market value of the stock market as a percentage of the domestic product reached 91 percent, with a completion rate of 118 percent, compared to the target rate of 77 percent. The strategic plan targeted the size of the debt instruments market as a percentage of the domestic product to reach 18.7 percent while what was achieved amounted to 32 percent, with a completion rate of 171 percent," he said. Elkuwaiz pointed out that these numbers and other achievements contributed to making the market a role model among the region's markets. "The authority is working on developing its strategic plan for the period from 2024 to 2026, which aims to achieve sustainable development of the financial sector, and new achievements and records, that will reflect positively on the financial market in particular and the financial sector in general," he said. The CMA chief said: "As we celebrate this year's National Day, the Kingdom has advanced seven positions in the World Competitiveness Yearbook issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) for the year 2023, reaching 17th position globally out of 64 countries that are the most competitive in the world, and third place among G20 countries, supported by strong economic and financial performance in 2022 and improved business legislation." He said that the Kingdom's ranking rose this year in 6 out of 12 indicators related to the financial market, and the ranking of two other indicators was maintained, while six indicators ranked among the top ten in the world." As for the financial market figures for the current year, specifically until the end of the second quarter of 2023, the number of investment funds jumped to 1,130, marking a historic peak, with a surge of 34.68 percent, compared to 839 funds in the second quarter of last year. The number of subscribers in both public and private investment funds also shot by 33.5 percent, reaching 901,896 subscribers, compared to 675,465 subscribers at the end of the same quarter of 2022. The ownership value of foreign investors qualified to invest in the main stock market amounted to SR298.45 billion ($79.5 billion) in the second quarter of 2023, compared to SR284.01 billion ($75 billion) in the same quarter of the previous year, marking an increase of SR14.43 billion (5.1 percent) on an annual basis. "All the achievements were an incentive for international institutions to praise the Kingdom's economy, including the praise made by the International Monetary Fund for the Kingdom's continuing efforts to complete economic and financial reforms and achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030."
