Huzaime Hamid
Preamble
The economic state of being for Muslim countries is a grim one. There is no Muslim country that is regarded as developed. The per capita Gross National Income in current US Dollars for Muslim countries is a fifth of that of the world average, and only 4% compared to those of “High Income Countries”1. It is, in fact, lower than the average for “Developing Countries” of the world. Of the 25 poorest nations on earth in 2002 by Gross National Income Purchasing Power Parity adjusted, 11 are Muslim countries2. 9 Muslim countries rank 80th and below in the Human Poverty Index in 2002, while 21 are not even ranked1. In Human Development Index (“HDI”) terms for that year, 33 Muslim countries rank 100th and below, with 2 not even ranked1.
Nonetheless, all is not lost. Indeed, massive effort on many fronts, Muslim and non-Muslim-led alike, seeks to bring forth Muslim countries into mainstream global economic growth and take a bite out of global debt, poverty, and squalor. However, it is truly up to each Muslim to ensure the success of these efforts and perpetuate quality growth of themselves, their communities, countries and their part of the world.
This paper seeks to bring forth key statistics and issues confronting Muslim countries’ economic challenges as a whole and make some recommendations to meet and surmount those challenges.
About the Author
Huzaime Hamid, 40 , is a Senior Fellow at ISIS. His specialization is in economics, finance, capital markets and businesses. He is also Deputy Secretary-General of the Malaysian chapter of the Network of East Asian Think-tanks ('NEAT Malaysia'). He was recently the deputy drafter for the Islamic Development Bank's ('IDB') 1440 Hijrah Vision Document and a ,e,ber of the IDB Vision Partners' Team. He has been active in NEAT Working Groups for the last two years. A graduate of Economics from the Louisiana State University, USA, he has spent the last 12 years as a fund manager and two years in addition to that as a Dealer's Representative in both the regional and domestic markets. The highlight of his career as a fund manager was as a member of the Pacific Region team of Jardine Fleming Investment Management, Hong Kong. His last post in the industry was a the Chief Investment Officer of Allioance Capital Asset Management. He has won several awards for his work, inclushing being voted by Asiamoney as 13th best Asian stock-brocker for Malaysian Sales Team (for stock-broking) award by Asiamoney in 2000 and 2001. He is currently an Investment Committee member of CIMB-Principal Berhad, one of Malaysia's largest fund management groups. Prior to his time as fund manager, he has with two of Malaysia's largest entities, Malayan Banking Berhad and Sima Darby Berhad.
