Abu Dhabi – The United Arab Emirates were targeted by AED 111.7 billion (USD 30.4 billion) in foreign direct investment (FDI) from 2016 to 2018, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Tuesday (18). This drove total foreign investment in the country to AED 511 billion (USD 139 billion).
Quoting the 2019 World Investment Report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), WAM said the UAE was the 27th leading FDI destination in the world, climbing three positions compared with 2017.
Last year the country was targeted by USD 10.4 billion in FDI, making it the premier Arab destination and the second biggest in Western Asia, trailing Turkey. The amount is slightly up from 2017 numbers.
For the sake of comparison, Brazil saw USD 61.2 billion in FDI last year, down 9.4% year-on-year, and down one position in the world ranking.
The UNCTAD also said the UAE went from 20th to 19th on the list of leading FDI issuer countries in the world, at USD 15 billion in 2018, up from USD 14 billion in 2017.
World FDI flows came out to USD 1.3 trillion last year, down from USD 1.5 trillion in 2017.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
