Riyadh, (Business News Report)|| Foreign investment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia increased to record levels during the year 2021, the highest rate of increase in the history of the Kingdom.
A report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that foreign investment in Saudi Arabia increased during the past year 2021, by 257% compared to the previous year.
The UNCTAD report indicated that foreign investment flows to Saudi Arabia amounted to $19.3 billion in 2021, compared to $5.4 billion in 2020.
The foreign direct investment flowing into the country in 2021 is the highest since 2010, when it amounted to $28.3 billion, before declining in subsequent years and returning to rise to $19.3 billion.
The increase in the flow of foreign investments to the country came as a result of overcoming investment obstacles in the Kingdom and the huge investment opportunities available in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and its huge projects and the privatization of many sectors, the report said.
The Saudi Minister of Investment, Khalid Al-Falih, revealed in press statements, last month, a big jump in foreign direct investment in the Kingdom this year.
The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had launched the National Investment Strategy, aiming to increase net foreign direct investment flows to the Kingdom to 388 billion riyals ($103.5 billion) annually by 2030.
This comes in conjunction with the rise in foreign investment in the world, driven by the momentum resulting from merger and acquisition activity and the rapid growth in financing international projects, due to loose funding and major infrastructure stimulus packages, according to the UNCTAD report.
In a related context, foreign direct investment flows to the countries of the Arab world and the Middle East increased during 2021 by 44.2%, to reach $66.85 billion, compared to $46.37 billion in 2020.
The rise in foreign direct investment in the region came with the main support of Saudi Arabia, which contributed about 68% of the increase in investments to the region, amounting to $13.9 billion, while the increase to the region in total amounted to $20.5 billion.
With regard to the region’s most attractive countries for foreign direct investment in 2021, the UAE topped it with $20.7 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia, thirdly Turkey with $12.5 billion, Egypt with $5.1 billion, and Oman with $3.6 billion.
