KUWAIT CITY, April 9: The events of the past year have affected the world’s rich, which led to a decline in their number in the annual Forbes list for 2022 which fell to 2,668 billionaires compared to 2,755 billionaires the previous year, and their combined wealth declined from 13.1 trillion dollars in 2021, to 12.7 trillion this year, reports Al-Rai daily. The list witnessed the exit of about 329 people from the list, while the annual Forbes list of Arab billionaires was devoid of Kuwaitis for the second year in a row, as the last Kuwaiti appearance on the list was in 2020 through businessman Qutaiba Al-Ghanim.

The Forbes list of the richest Arabs witnessed a decline in their number from 22 to 21 billionaires, after the death of the Emirati Majid Al Futtaim last December, while Saudi billionaires were not included in the Forbes list of the world’s rich for the fifth year in a row.

Nassef Sawiris maintained the top spot of the wealthy Arabs, with a net worth of $7.7 billion, despite the decrease in his fortune by 600 million compared to 2021, which made him the biggest loser among the wealthy Arabs this year, after the decline in the shares of Adidas, in which he owns a 6% stake. Billionaire Issad Rebrab and his family, the only billionaire from Algeria, came in second place, with a fortune estimated at $5.1 billion; while the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his brother Taha were among the biggest winners this year, after their fortunes increased by 700 million dollars to reach 3.2 billion dollars, noting that Najib Mikati ranked fourth in the list of the richest Arabs and the ninetyfifth globally.

Egypt and Lebanon have the largest number of rich Arabs, with 6 billionaires each, while the combined net worth of Egyptian billionaires is $18.3 billion. They are brothers Mohamed, Youssef and Yassin Mansour, the brothers Nassef and Naguib Sawiris, as well as the 93-year-old Mohamed Al- Fayed and the former owner of a store (Harrods). The net worth of Lebanese billionaires is $12.6 billion.

Among them are the two brothers, Najib and Taha Mikati, and the sons of the late Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. While the UAE has 3 billionaires on the 2022 list, they are Hussein Sajwani, Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Ghurair and the family, and Abdullah Al Futtaim and the family. Morocco has Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, businessman and banker Othman Benjelloun and his family. Qatar is represented by Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, both of whom are members of the Qatari royal family.