BEIRUT, Feb 24—Despite the severity of the global economic crisis, many governments are still nervous about accepting investment by Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) despite their potential to provide urgently needed liquidity. Greater transparency about their holdings and investment strategies would help SWFs to overcome these concerns and to play a role in resolving the economic crisis, concludes a new policy outlook from the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Key conclusions:

• SWFs have been hit hard by the financial crisis. In consequence, they now invest more cautiously and focus their attention on smaller scale investments that contribute to the development and diversification of their national economies.
• SWFs should become more accountable to the public in their home countries. They are responsible for managing their country’s financial wealth and some have suffered substantial losses.
• SWFs should aggressively implement the “Santiago Principles,” intended to increase transparency and accountability, agreed upon by the Sovereign Wealth Funds International Working Group in October 2008.
• The international community, given the current turmoil in the global economy, should build the framework and institutions needed to more efficiently integrate SWFs into the global financial architecture and ensure openness in the process.

Sven Behrendt, the author, concludes:

“The uncertainty surrounding Arab SWFs has increased the political and regulatory risk premium for all sovereign foreign investors. It has also complicated efforts to address the global financial crisis. It is therefore in the individual interest of SWFs as well as in the interest of the global community at large to shift gears on the issues of transparency and disclosure.”

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NOTES

• Direct link to the PDF: www.carnegieendowment.org/files/gulf_arab_swf.pdf

• Direct link to the Arabic PDF: www.carnegieendowment.org/files/gulf_arab_swf_arabic.pdf

• Sven Behrendt is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. He is an expert in global policy issues, international negotiations, corporate strategy, and diplomacy. Prior to his appointment at Carnegie, he served in various management positions at the World Economic Forum and the Bertelsmann Group on Policy Research. He is a regular commentator on television and in the press on corporate strategy and globalization.

• The Carnegie Middle East Program combines in-depth local knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to examine economic, socio-political, and strategic interests in the Arab world to provide analysis and recommendations in both English and Arabic that are deeply informed by knowledge and views from the region.

• The Carnegie Middle East Center based in Beirut, Lebanon, aims to better inform the process of political change in the Middle East.

• Carnegie's Arab Reform Bulletin has been transformed into a full-featured website that offers greatly enhanced search functionality, the option for readers to comment on articles, and frequent news updates.

• Press Contact: Trent Perrotto, 202/939-2372, tperrotto@ceip.org