Mubasher: The UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were the top three Arab countries attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2020, according to the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) report on Thursday.
The overall FDIs value in the Arab nations increased last year by 2.5% to total $40.5 billion, which accounted for 6.1% of the overall inflows into developing countries and 4% of the $999 billion global FDI amount.
The UAE topped the Arab region with $19.88 billion worth of FDI inflows in 2020, representing 49.1% of the total share.
Dubai has maintained a high level of investor confidence last year, with the total estimated FDIs reaching AED 24.7 billion, according to the Dubai FDI Annual Results & Rankings 2020 Report.
Egypt came in the second place with $5.85 billion in FDIs and a share of 14.5%, while Saudi Arabia attracted $5.48 billion and held a share of 13.6% of the total FDI inflows.
Oman and Lebanon followed in the fourth and fifth rankings with FDIs worth $4.09 billion and $3.06 billion, respectively, and a share of 10.1% and 7.6% of the total value in 2020.
The top three countries held nearly 58% of the $908.6 billion accumulated FDI stocks into the region. Saudi Arabia came first with $241.9 billion, representing a share of 26.6%, followed by the UAE at $150.9 billion and 16.6%, and Egypt with $132.5 billion and 14.6%.
Arab Region’s FDI projects
The number of FDI projects in Arab countries declined by 38.3% to total 616 developments, while the capital investment plunged 40.5% to $34 billion in 2020, the lowest level in the region since 2003.
The UAE attracted the majority of the projects with 347, while Saudi Arabia topped the Arab region in terms of capital investment of $10.4 billion.
North America was the top investor in terms of capital investment, with the US advancing with 22.4% of the overall investments.
Most of the projects were in the sectors of business services, software, and financial services, with a combined share of 50% of the total number of developments.
On the other hand, chemicals, coal, oil and gas, and renewable energy segments held the first three positions respectively with a combined share of 55% in terms of capital investment.
Inter-Arab investment projects
The number of projects among the Arab countries shrank by 42% to reach 110, and the capital investment plunged by 68.8% to $4.8 billion, which represented 14% of the overall FDI inflows in Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia was the top destination with 29 projects worth $1.35 billion in capital investment.
Software was the top sector with 20 developments, while communications came first in terms of the capital investment by more than $842 million.
