Following UAE’s recent announcement that it’s forming a Ministry of Investment to boost the country’s capital diversification efforts and achieve its ambitious goals of both attracting $150 billion in FDI inflows by 2031 and ranking among the top 10 countries in terms of FDI inflows, it was the outflows that made news.
The UAE emerged as the largest Arab capital exporter in 2022, with foreign investments in projects growing by about 10 percent.
A report by the Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC) said UAE capital outflows increased to $24.83 billion in 2022 from about $22.54 billion in 2021.
The same report showed Saudi as being the second largest Arab capital exporter, with outgoing investments reaching $18.82 billion in 2022, a drop of nearly $5 bn from 2021.
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Qatar was third in the GCC, with outgoing capital flows reaching $2.38 billion, followed by Bahrain with around $1.94 billion, according to the report.
Kuwait liquidated some of its assets abroad making it a net importer in 2022 with the value of its capital inflows standing at around $25.6 billion in 2022.
Total Arab capital outflows declined to $23.31 billion in 2022 from nearly $50.62 billion in 2021, the report showed.
The UAE currently sits in 16th place globally in FDI inflows, from 22nd place in 2021and is the only GCC nation that experienced constant growth in FDI inflows over the past five years.
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