Current Investment Climate in Arab Countries

According to the Arab Institute for Investment Guarantee and Credit Export 2010 report, 18 Arab states acquiesced approximately $64.3bn worth of investments compared to $83.9bn the year before.  In addition, it was confirmed in the report that the foreign direct investment flows the Arab countries received went down by $19.7bn.  According to a news report in Al Bawaba, this could be possibly due to “local and international crises.”

Foreign Direct Investment

The highest recipient for foreign direct investment last year was Saudi Arabia at a figure of 33.5 percent.  This was high, but less than what their 2009 figure was (40.9 percent).  Next is Qatar, which got 10.3 percent foreign direct investment, followed by 9.9 percent for Egypt, 7.7 percent for Lebanon, 6.8 percent for Morocco, 6.1 percent for UAE, 5.7 percent for Sudan, 4.8 percent for Libya, 3.2 percent for Algeria, 3 percent for Iraq, 2.9 percent for Syria, 2.6 percent for Jordan, 2.5 percent for Tunisia, 0.3 percent for Yemen, 0.2 percent for Bahrain, 0.12 percent for Kuwait, 0.09 percent for Mauritania and 0.06 percent for Djibouti.

The only Arab countries that enjoyed investment inflow increases in 2009 and 2010 were: Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco.  Throughout the rest of the Arab countries there was a decrease in foreign direct investments.