Saidi says wealth funds helped contain risks

Dubai: Emerging Markets Economies (EMEs) have shown remarkable resilience by remaining strong in the middle of the global financial turmoil, said Dr Nasser Saidi, Chief Economist of Dubai International Finance Centre Authority (DIFCA), in his keynote address to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Institutional Investment Summit at the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) on Sunday.

He said the strong macroeconomic fundamentals and external positions in such countries lend credibility and acted as a financial buffer to shield the countries from the ongoing turmoil.

According to Saidi, sovereign wealth funds have been crucial in containing the contagion risks, supporting equity valuations worldwide and recapitalising distressed banks, hence strengthening the Middle East economies.

A recent McKinsey report estimates the volume of Net Foreign Assets created from oil revenue in the GCC to surpass $10.5 trillion by 2020.