The renowned Forbes magazine has launched its list of the 20 richest Arabs in 2023, prominently featuring Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Algeria, and Qatar.
Egypt and Lebanon boast the largest number of Arab billionaires, with six each. The net worth of the Egyptian billionaires, including the Mansour brothers, Mohammed, Youssef, and Yassin; the Sawiris siblings, Nassef and Naguib; as well as Mohammed Al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, reaches $19.1 billion.
The net worth of the Lebanese billionaires, which includes the Mikati brothers, high-end jewelry mogul Robert Mouawad, and the brothers of the former billionaire and ex-Prime Minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, stands at $11.8 billion.
The UAE boasts three billionaires in 2023: Hussain Sajwani, Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Ghurair and his family, and Abdullah Al Futtaim and his family, with a total net worth of $9.9 billion.
From Morocco, the list includes Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, and businessman Othman Benjelloun and his family. Qatar is represented by Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, both from the Qatari ruling family.
Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris maintains the top spot among Arab billionaires, with a net worth of $7.4 billion, despite a decrease of $300 million from 2022. His investments, including nearly 6% stake in Adidas, and his company, OCI, one of the largest producers of nitrogen fertilizers in the world, have factories in Texas and Iowa, USA.
The Algerian billionaire Issad Rebrab and his family ranked second, with a net worth of $4.6 billion, $500 million less than in 2022. He is the founder and CEO of Cevital Group, the largest private Algerian company, which owns one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, with an annual production capacity of two million tons of refined sugar.
Emirati billionaire, Hussain Sajwani’s wealth increased by 66.7% from 2022, marking him as the biggest gainer among Arab billionaires. The wealth of Mohamed Mansour also saw a 44% increase this year.
For the sixth consecutive year, Saudi billionaires are excluded from Forbes’ global list.
