RIYADH: Arab countries attracted $122.7 billion in investments during 2024, up 53 percent from the previous year, supported by major projects in Egypt and the Gulf, new data showed.
According to a report by the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corp., known as Dhaman, the region saw the launch of 2,172 foreign projects with total capital expenditure of $119 billion.
This aligns with the Arab region’s gross domestic product growth of 1.8 percent in 2024, reaching $3.6 trillion despite regional challenges, according to data released by Dhaman in March.
It also supports Moody’s January forecast that oil production and major investment projects will drive a 0.8 percentage point rise in annual economic growth across the Middle East and North Africa in 2025.
In its annual “Investment Climate in Arab Countries 2025” report, Dhaman said: “Despite the challenges the region experienced in 2024, FDI inflows into Arab countries rose by 53 percent to $122.7 billion, making up 14.2 percent of overall inflows into developing countries and 8.1 percent of overall world inflows worth around $1.5 trillion.”
It added: “Foreign direct investment inflows into the Arab region continued their geographical concentration in 2024, as five countries had roughly 97 percent of the total inflows, led by Egypt, attracting $46.6 billion, making up 38 percent.”
By the end of 2024, FDI stocks in Arab countries had increased by 8.8 percent to reach $1.2 trillion, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, as well as Lebanon and Oman, accounting for 73 percent of the total, the report showed.
The Kuwait-based organization said the average ranking of Arab countries in its composite index measuring investment climate stood at 103rd globally last year, remaining below the world average.
As for inter-Arab investment projects, the report highlighted a 17 percent decline, totaling 260 projects, while capital expenditure dropped 35 percent to $45.5 billion, representing 38 percent of the region’s total foreign direct investment.
“The UAE represented the first destination in terms of the number of projects (83 projects), while Egypt led the list in capex ($27.2 billion, making up 60 percent of the total). Business services led the list in the number of projects (77 projects), and real estate came first in the capex ($24 billion),” the report said.
