Saudi Arabia topped the list of the largest Gulf countries investing abroad with a share of 49 percent during the second quarter of this year, according to a recent international report.
Saudi Arabia also ranked among the top five destinations for Gulf investment during the period 11 percent, along with four other destinations, which are Uzbekistan, Egypt, Australia and South Africa, with shares of 25, 10, 6 and 5 percent respectively, knowing that the five destinations accounted for about 57 in One hundredth of the total investment cost of the projects.
This indicates a change in investment destinations compared to the first quarter of last year, which included China, the United States, Iraq, Jordan, and Bahrain.
According to the report provided by the “Economic” of the Arab Corporation for Investment Guarantee and Export Credit “Daman”, the number of new foreign direct investment projects issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the world during the period reached 70 projects, at an investment cost of $ 4.9 billion.
The UAE came second after Saudi Arabia in the list of the largest Gulf countries investing abroad with a share of 38 percent, then Bahrain 10 percent, Qatar 2 percent and Kuwait 1 percent, while no investments were recorded from Oman.
The quarterly report monitored the increase in the shares of the UAE and Bahrain against the decline in Qatar’s share of total investments during the second quarter compared to the first quarter of last year.
“Daman” indicated that the Gulf foreign investments were concentrated in five basic sectors: “coal, oil and gas”, “renewable energy”, “financial services”, “transportation and storage” and “food and beverages” and in proportions of 25, 19, 16, 11 and 8 Respectively, with a total share of more than 80% of the total investment cost of the projects.
She pointed out that the sectors of industrial equipment, coal, oil and gas, consumer products, hotels and tourism and telecommunications came in the forefront in terms of the highest decline in the value of Gulf investments directed to them.
On the level of foreign investment projects in the Arab countries in the same period, Daman drew attention to a decrease in the number of new foreign direct investment projects in the region by 30 percent to 185 projects, as well as the investment cost of those projects at a rate of 27.3 percent to $ 11.2 billion, and jobs created From 23 percent to 21.3 thousand jobs.
Daman stated that foreign investments in the region continue to focus in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt respectively, with a total share of 65.4 percent of the investment cost of projects in the region.
