©Reuters. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala Investment Company, during the New Economy Forum in Beijing. Photo from the Reuters archive.
DUBAI (Reuters) – Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of the Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala Investment Company, said on Saturday that 2023 would be a challenging year for the global economy, but the fund would focus on opportunities that serve long-term goals.
“If you look at the one-year horizon, yes, 2023 is going to be tough… with more negative than positive effects in most places in the world,” Mubarak said at the Global Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi.
“There will be significant valuation adjustments and recessionary pressures in many places around the world…but I look at that as an opportunity to grab” five to ten years from now, he added.
According to a presentation to investors, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, had $284 billion in assets under management at the end of last year.
Al Mubarak said that as a global investor, Mubadala would continue to follow an investment approach that looks at long-term sustainable growth patterns and returns and continue to focus on sectors such as renewable energy and technology.
He added that while Europe presented “a picture of the challenge”, India, with its high population density, a growing middle class in its society and its economic trajectory, “presented a picture in which can see the growth.”
Sectors like technology and energy transition remain broad areas for Mubadala.
Mubarak said the UAE, an oil-producing country and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which will host the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28) next year, seeks a balanced portfolio in the sector of energy production that includes renewable and conventional energy sources.
Abu Dhabi on Thursday announced a new structure for its main clean energy company, Masdar: State-owned oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), energy companies and Mubadala became shareholders, with Mubadala retaining his share of the 33%.
Mubadala aims to increase its capacity to at least 100 gigawatts of renewable energy, mainly wind and solar, by 2030.
(Cover by Ghaida Ghantous – Prepared by Muhammad Ali Faraj & Noha Zakaria for Arab Bulletin – Edited by Duaa Muhammad)
