THE decision to upgrade Saudi Arabia’s Standalone Market to an Emerging Market status is evidence of the success of development efforts in that regard, chairwoman of Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange Tadawul, Sarah Al-Suhaimi, said in a press statement on Thursday.

The status upgrade will greatly facilitate foreigner investments, she added.

Suhaimi also said the time period that the Saudi stock market was supervised by the MSCI Index is the shortest in comparison to other markets.

In a statement, Suhaimi congratulated the Saudi exchange on joining the MSCI index, which is “the most prominent international indices, which directly follows our success in joining FTSE Resal Emerging Markets Index, which reflects the competitiveness of the Saudi stock market among global financial markets.”

Suhaimi added that this is an important achievement that was reached due to the cooperation between Tadawul and other relevant authorities who worked together to enhance the efficiency of the financial market and build an environment that will attract both foreign and local investors.

Featuring 32 stocks and with a weighing of 2.6%, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index is the Middle East’s largest stock exchange with a market capitalization of about $500 billion. — Al Arabiya English