DUBAI: The wealth of the richest Arabs plunged in 2008, with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the richest of all, seeing his investments shrivel nearly 20 per cent, according to a list published in Dubai on Sunday.

The Saudi prince’s wealth has shrunk by four billion dollars to 17.08 billion under the impact of this year’s global financial turmoil, Arabian Business online magazine said in a survey of the richest 50 Arab people.

The combined assets of the top 50 have plummetted by $25 billion or 12 per cent to $199.48 billion, based on data calculated on Dec 2, the magazine said.

Despite his losses, Prince Alwaleed remains top of the list, though his wealth sank twice as much as that of second placed Nasser al-Kharafi, a Kuwaiti businessman whose value is estimated to have dropped by $2 billion to $9.6 billion.

In May, Prince Alwaleed ranked 19 in the Forbes list of world billionaires with $21 billion. His wealth includes a five per cent stake in the troubled US banking giant Citigroup and a private Airbus superjumbo A380, dubbed as the “flying palace” and valued at $330 million. The list clearly did not include Arab rulers, some of whom have huge wealth.—AFP