Wealth of MENA billionaires rises to $165 bln in 2017: report

The total wealth of MENA billionaires grew to $165 billion in 2017, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year, according to the UBS/PwC billionaires report 2018.

The total number of billionaires rose by 24 percent to 52 last year, with two-thirds of the billionaires being self-made. Six percent of the regional billionaires were females, the report added.

Overall, the total wealth of global billionaires reached $8.9 trillion last year, a year-on-year increase of 19 percent. Chinese billionaires swelled in number to 373 in 2017 from 318 in 2016, as their wealth rose by 39 percent to $1.12 trillion.  

"China's ultra-wealthy were driving that trend, adding two new billionaires per week last year, and growing at a rate almost double that of the Americas and Europe," the report noted. In Asia, three people a week saw their net worth cross the $1 billion mark.

Meanwhile, wealth increased at a slower than the global rate at 12 percent to $3.6 trillion in the Americas, though the region still maintains the "biggest wealth concentration from the tech industry." The wealth of European billionaires rose by 19 percent, supported by currency appreciation. However, the number of billionaires rose by mere 4 percent to 629.

In addition, self-made billionaires were chief architects of innovation, contributing 80 percent of the 40 main breakthrough innovations over the last 40 years.

In 2017, a total of 199 entrepreneurs became self-made billionaires, including innovators in the fields of blockchain, peer-to-peer lending, genomics and green energy, the report noted.