Doha: Total GCC investments in small and medium enterprises amounts to $14bn, around 4.2 percent of the total investments in the Gulf industrial sector in 2012, the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) revealed on the sidelines of the International Exhibition for Small and Medium Industries, currently underway in Doha.
GOIC Secretary General Abdulaziz bin Hamad Al-Ageel said these figures are “very low” and need to be reinforced to match advanced countries.
“GCC countries need to increase local employment in small and medium industries to cope with unemployment and achieve development goals.”
UAE and Bahrain were the leading GCC countries in terms of the ratio of small and medium enterprises to the total number of industrial firms, about 85.5 percent in the UAE and 81.8 percent in the Bahrain.
In comparison, the total number of SMEs in all GCC countries combined is 83.6 percent of the total number of industrial enterprises. Al Ageel noted that SMEs represent 90 percent of the total number of businesses in the UAE, offering job opportunities to 85 percent of the workforce.
Nevertheless, their contribution to the GDP is limited to approximately 30 percent.
When it comes to Saudi Arabia, Al Ageel said, SMEs represent about 93 percent of the total number of enterprises and employ 27 percent of the workforce.
“Saudi SMEs’ contribution to the GDP is limited to 33 percent, which is a relatively weak contribution compared to the growth of the Saudi diversified economy and to advanced countries where SMEs contribute with no less than 50 percent to the GDP.”
GOIC statistics, which are updated on a regular basis, reflected that the number of SMEs in GCC states in 2012 was 12.684, around 83.6 percent of the total number of industries. These small and medium industries offer employment to 46.1 percent of the total industrial sector’s workforce, which is average. QNA
