Al-Ageel: Industrial investments in the Gulf worth 394.9 billion USD in 2016 GOIC takes part in the 1st Gulf Statistical Forum under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) participated in the 1st Gulf Statistical Forum held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh. The Forum was entitled: “Strengthening Statistical Partnerships to Support Economic Policies and Sustainable Development in the GCC.” It was organised by the General Authority for Statistics and the GCC Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat), in addition to international and regional stakeholders.

During the Forum, his Excellency Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel, GOIC Secretary General, announced the latest data on GCC industrial activities. He explained that investments were worth 394.9 billion USD and there were 17596 factories employing approximately 1663.9 thousand workers in this area.

GOIC Secretary General said GOIC’s IMI Plus data revealed that 3125 factories operated in the manufacture of metal products (except machinery and equipment), followed by 2978 factories in the manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, 2025 factories in the manufacture of rubber and plastics products, and then the remaining areas.

According to Mr. Al-Ageel’s data, the biggest share of cumulative investments went to the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products with investments worth 110.6 billion USD, followed by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (98.9 billion USD), the manufacture of basic metals (approximately 59.0 billion USD), the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (around 40.2 billion USD) and then the rest of industries.

Furthermore, Mr. Al-Ageel highlighted that the Gulf industrial sector offered job opportunities to approximately 1663.9 thousand workers, most of them (16.7%) in the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products with 278.4 thousand workers, followed by the manufacture of metal products (except machinery and equipment) with 255.7 thousand workers, the manufacture of food products with 194.6 thousand workers, the manufacture of rubber and plastics with 137.4 thousand workers, and then the remaining industries.

As to factories, Mr. Al-Ageel said they varied between small, medium and big enterprises. In details, there were 11969 small, 2701 medium and 2926 big factories in the GCC in 2016. The largest share of big and medium factories went to Saudi Arabia with 1774 big and 1531 medium factories, while the UAE had the biggest share of small factories (5433), followed by Oman with 1284 factories. In this regard, GOIC takes into account the unified invested capital as a criterion to distinguish between types of Gulf industries, after carrying out a thorough review of the components of GCC manufacturing industries. Consequently, small industries have less than two million USD invested in each of them, medium industries have a capital of two to six million USD each, while big industries receive six millions and more worth of investments.

Moreover, GOIC took part in the accompanying exhibition. It’s booth featured an overview of its various programs such as the Gulf Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (GSPX), the Industrial Market Information and its IMI Plus, the Training and Capacity Development (TCD), the SME Industrial Technical Assistance (ITA), the Manufacturing Investment Opportunities Program (MIOP) and the Industrial Studies and Policies (ISP).