JEDDAH: Residents of Qatar scored the highest in terms of saving environment and savings potential, while residents of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia scored the lowest in terms of savings, according to the results of the National Bonds GCC Savings Index, which was released Tuesday. The results of the index, which convert respondents' attitudes into a base value that can be used to compare countries and benchmark against in the future, showed that Oman fared highest in terms of financial stability of respondents. The sultanate also scored highly on savings environment and savings potential, while Bahrain savings environment scored in line with the overall GCC average and scored well when it came to savings potential. Residents of Qatar showed the biggest commitment to regularly setting aside money, recording the highest instance of regular saving with 41 percent, while at the other end of the scale Saudi Arabia had the lowest occurrence of regular saving with just 23 percent. The statistics also showed that although 95 percent of respondents acknowledge that saving is important, only 26 percent of people in the GCC actually save regularly. When questioned about the factors that affected their saving decisions, the biggest concern for respondents was that the saving instrument should be Shariah-compliant. The amount required to start saving was also a big factor followed by the reputation of the provider, and the protection of the capital. Results showed that residents who had developed a habit of saving were diligent, as 55 percent of respondents who admitted to saving regularly around 20 percent of their monthly income. Those foreseeing their financial status to be stable in the near future (58 percent) where more successful when it came to saving, compared to those who expect their income to increase (significantly/ to some extent) over the next 6 to 12 months. Mohammed Qasim Al-Ali, chief executive officer of National Bonds Corporation PJSC said: "When we launched the first ever National Bonds Savings Index in September it sent shockwaves through the UAE, as people hadn't realized the extent of negligence there was towards saving. We decided to expand our research to encompass the entire GCC to evaluate the saving sentiment in other countries, yet we have found that the same problems exist but with different scales in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. This research gave us more insight into why some countries were more resilient towards the crisis than others. " He added "while people in the GCC exhibit an overwhelming understanding of the importance of saving, they are not translating these intentions into actions. National Bonds believes in the importance and value of regular saving and is highly committed to providing people with the best tools for saving and improving financial literacy in the region. We aim to make people more aware of the importance of adopting saving habits that are easy and effective, avoiding over-spending in order for them to achieve financial security in the near future." The survey covered 1,183 residents of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, gathering insight into their attitudes towards the current savings environment, their own savings potential and their outlook on the future. Originally covering only the UAE, the National Bonds Savings Index has now been expanded to include all of the GCC countries. Three quarters of those surveyed declared that their current savings are not as much as they had planned and they do not save regularly, while a further 93 percent were of the opinion that their savings are inadequate for their future needs. Residents of Saudi Arabia had a more negative outlook on their savings environment, with 49 percent declaring that now is not a good time to save, almost double the UAE (27 percent) and higher than the GCC average of 41 percent. The research was commissioned by National Bonds Corporation PJSC, the leading Shariah-complaint saving scheme in the UAE, and carried out by market research company YouGov Siraj.
