Abu Dhabi—News Agencies
The UAE topped the list of Arab countries most attractive to foreign investment last year, while Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Arab world as the largest host country for foreign direct investment, according to the annual report of the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Daman).
The report, according to a press release issued by the organization yesterday, showed that the UAE attracted $9.6 billion (36.6 billion dirhams) in foreign direct investment last year, accounting for 20% of total inflows to Arab countries.
The report noted that Arab countries attracted $47 billion in foreign direct investment last year, a 10% increase compared to 2011.
Saudi Arabia Leads in Attracting Investment

Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Arab world as the largest host country for foreign direct investment, with total inflows of $12.2 billion, accounting for 25.8% of the total, followed by the UAE in second place with $9.6 billion and a 20.4% share, then Lebanon in third place with $3.68 billion and a 7.8% share.
Algeria ranked fourth with $2.9 billion and a share of 6.2%, followed by Morocco in fifth place with $2.89 billion and a share of 6.1%, followed by Egypt in sixth place with $2.8 billion and a share of 5.9%.
The report added that Sudan ranked seventh in the Arab world in terms of the volume of foreign direct investment inflows, with $2.5 billion and a share of 5.3%, followed by Tunisia in eighth place with $1.9 billion and a share of 4.1%, followed by Kuwait in ninth place with $1.86 billion and a share of 4%, then the Sultanate of Oman in tenth place with $1.48 billion and a share of 3.1%, followed by Jordan in 11th place with $1.4 billion and a 3% share of the Arab total.
The report noted that Iraq ranked 12th in the Arab world with a value of $1.27 billion and a share of 2.7%, followed by Bahrain in 13th place with a value of $891 million and a share of 1.9%, then Libya in 14th place with a value of $720 million and a share of 1.5%, followed by Qatar in 15th place with $327 million and a share of 0.7%, and finally Palestine, Mauritania, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen, in that order.
General Index of Investment Attractiveness
As for the performance of the Daman Index of Investment Attractiveness, the Investment Climate Report—which reviewed the performance of 110 countries, including 17 Arab nations, in the 2013 “Daman Index of Investment Attractiveness”—revealed that the Gulf states—namely the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, respectively, leading the Arab performance in the index by occupying the top six spots.
The Investment Climate Report—which this year adopted an entirely new methodology for monitoring the investment climate and the attractiveness of Arab countries to foreign direct investment—noted that Jordan ranked seventh among Arab countries and 57th globally, followed by Tunisia in eighth place in the Arab world and 60th globally, then Lebanon in ninth place in the Arab world and 64th globally, followed by Morocco in tenth place in the Arab world and 66th globally.
The report indicated that Egypt ranked 11th in the Arab world and 67th globally, followed by Libya in 12th place in the Arab world and 78th globally, and then Algeria in 13th place in the Arab world and 82nd globally.
The report highlighted a group of countries with very poor performance in terms of foreign investment attractiveness (well below the global average), which included Syria, Yemen, Mauritania, and Sudan.
Global Investment
Globally, the report indicated that OECD countries dominated the top ranks of the overall investment attractiveness index, led by the United States, followed by Germany in second place globally, and the United Kingdom in third place globally.
It is worth noting that the 2012–2013 report reviews the investment climate in Arab countries according to a new methodology, following the Foundation’s first-ever introduction of the “Zaman Index of Investment Attractiveness,” which possesses numerous characteristics that qualify it to be among the benchmark composite indices at both the regional and international levels for a number of reasons, including the index’s adherence to scientific and practical standards, its consideration of previous experiences and indices, and its reliance on approximately 114 variables drawn from the most important and up-to-date government and international databases and information sources.