The Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation revealed, on Thursday, that Egypt is one of the top Arab countries in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2020.
In its annual report, published on Thursday, the corporation estimated that Egypt received a total of $5.9bn in investments, representing 14.5% of the total investment inflows in the region in 2020.
Regarding the region’s investment climate, the corporation monitored an unexpected 2.5% rise in FDI flows to the Arab countries to reach $40.5bn in 2020. This represented 6.1% of the total inflows to developing countries, and 4% of the total global flows of about $999bn.
The report indicated the continued geographical concentration of incoming flows, as the first five countries accounted for about 95% of the total inflows.
It noted that the UAE attracted $19.9bn, with a share exceeding 49%, followed by Egypt with a value of $5.9bn and a share of 14.5%. This was followed by: Saudi Arabia in third place with a value of $5.5bn and a share of 13.6% of the total; Oman in fourth place with a value of $4.1bn and a share of 10.1%; and Lebanon with a value of $3.1bn and a share of 7.6% of the total.
With regard to geographical distribution, North America was at the forefront of the most important investors in the region in terms of cost, led by the US, which contributed 22.4% of the total investments.
These projects were geographically concentrated in the UAE, with 347 projects, and in Saudi Arabia, with an investment cost of $10.4bn.
As for the sectoral distribution of investment, the business services, software, and financial services sectors fell in the first three positions, respectively, with a total share of 50% of the number of projects.
Meanwhile, the chemical, coal, oil and gas and renewable energy sectors came in the first three positions, respectively, in terms of investment cost with a share of 55% of the total.
