Mubasher: The UAE has maintained its position as a regional and international destination that attracts foreign direct investment (FDI), coming in the first place among the Arab countries since the past five years, the UAE economy minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori said.
The UAE has attracted approximately $10.35 billion in 2017, accounting for 36% of the total FDI flow to the Arab countries, Al Mansoori added, according to a recent press release.
The UAE has maintained its second position among West Asian countries in the past five years, attracting nearly $10.35 billion in 2017 and accounting for 40.6% of total FDIs into the West Asia region, according to the recent statement by the UAE economy ministry, in conjunction with Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) which will run under the theme ‘Mapping the Future of FDI: Enriching World Economies through Digital Globalisation’.
The world’s biggest platform for FDI, AIM, will launch on Monday, 8 April in Dubai, where over 20,000 corporate leaders, policymakers, businessmen, regional and international investors, entrepreneurs, leading academics, experts, and stakeholders from more than 140 countries from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia participate in the three-day event.
“One of the key sectors that have seen an uptick in FDIs include wholesale and retail trade. The total foreign direct investment in this sector amounted to about $29.8 billion, with a contribution of 24.9% of the total foreign direct investment in the UAE. In addition, real estate has also been instrumental in drawing FDIS. FDIs in this sector amounted to nearly $28.4 billion, with total foreign direct investment amounting to 23.8% in the UAE,” the official press release added.
Financial and insurance activities amounted to $23 billion, with total FDI flow contributing to nearly 19.3% in the UAE.
With about $10.9 billion worth of manufacturing industries, a total contribution accounting for 9.2% of total FDI in the UAE was registered.
Furthermore, the mining and quarrying sector had FDIs worth $10.5 billion, with 8.8% of total FDIs in the UAE.
Al Mansoori said: “The UAE has recently launched a series of initiatives to stimulate economic growth, which have been aimed at strengthening efforts to attract foreign direct investment, raise financial and economic efficiency, stimulate investment, stimulate local production, improve the business environment and make it more efficient and attractive.”
He added: “The UAE is engaged in attracting quality investments that serve its development objectives and add value to the national economy in a number of vital sectors including energy, mining, manufacturing, infrastructure, logistics, agriculture, business, tourism, hospitality, real estate, ICT, banking, finance, advisory services and other investment sectors.”
Earlier on Sunday, the crown prince of Dubai and chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai said that the FDI capital inflows to Dubai rose by 41% year-on-year to AED 38.5 billion ($10.48 billion) in 2018.
