Online transactions in the Arab world will increase almost eightfold by next year, according experts participating at Gitex Saudi Arabia, which opened at the Riyadh Exhibition Center on Sunday and will continue until 25 April.
"Arab trade currently exceeds $250 billion, of which some $400 million is carried out online although a substantial portion of the latter figure is through banking," explained Mohammad Al-Shammary, managing director of the E-Commerce Company. "This is expected to leap to three billion dollars by next year, reflecting the magnitude and potential for Information Technology (IT) growth in the region."
Al-Shammary's comments were echoed by Zainal A. Ahmad, director of planning and technology at IV Malaysia, who said: "Global electronic commerce holds the promise of tremendous growth and new opportunities for businesses to expand their markets. The strongest growth will come from developing markets as these open up to new technologies."
A recently conducted research predicts that 85 percent of commerce and services in the world, currently valued at $60 trillion, will find its way into cyber space. "We can already point to phenomenal growth. Global e-commerce was valued at $367 billion in the year 2000, whereas by next year it is projected to reach $1,234 billion—a growth of more than 300 percent in three years!" said Ahmad. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
