Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

UAE ranks second in global greenfield FDI projects

By Pramod Kumar
The UAE attracted FDI inflows of $30.7 billion last year, a 35 percent year-on-year growth Wam
The UAE attracted FDI inflows of $30.7 billion last year, a 35 percent year-on-year growth

A 33 percent year-on-year surge in greenfield FDI projects in the UAE catapulted the Emirates up two places to the second spot after the US in 2023.

There are now 1,323 greenfield FDI project announcements, state-run Wam news agency reported, citing the World Investment Report 2024.

The UAE attracted FDI inflows of $30.7 billion last year, compared to $22.7 billion in 2022, a 35 percent growth.

Person, Electronics, Mobile Phone

Newsletter
Get the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week

The report, released by UN Trade and Development, showed that FDI outflows fell 10 percent to $22.3 billion in 2023, compared to $24.8 billion in 2022.

This year the UAE has improved its position in the IMD’s latest World Competitiveness Ranking, rising three places to seventh, up from 10th in 2023 and 12th in 2022.

The list, compiled by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, saw the UAE ranked second for employment and third for international trade. 

In May fDi Markets said that Dubai is the world’s top location for “greenfield” foreign direct investment for the third consecutive year.

Some 1,070 greenfield FDI projects, where a company sets up in a foreign country, building its facilities from the ground up, were reported in Dubai in 2023.

Latest articles

Kuwaiti logistics company Agility Public Warehousing has paid out nearly KD9 million ($29.2 million) over the disputed lease

Kuwait’s Agility pays out $30m over scrap site dispute

Kuwaiti logistics company Agility Public Warehousing has paid out nearly KD9 million ($29.2 million) after losing a 2021 court case over leasing a plot of land in Kuwait used as a scrap site. “With this payment, the company will have fully executed the aforementioned ruling in favour of the Public Authority for Industry,” Agility said […]

The Rolls Building in London, where high-value commercial cases are heard. The Kuwait pension fund trial is expected to last one year

Kuwait pension fund’s $1bn lawsuit begins in London

Kuwait’s public pension fund has accused asset manager Man Group, Swiss bank EFG and others of laundering bribes paid to its late director as a $1 billion trial begins at London’s High Court. The Public Institution for Social Security, which operates Kuwait’s social security and pension scheme, is also suing the estate of Fahad Al Rajaan, its director from 1984 to […]

An egg farm in Brazil. Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its reliance on imported foods

Entaj share price rises 30% in first day on Tadawul

The share price of poultry producer Entaj has risen by 30 percent on its first day of trading, the maximum daily increase allowed on the Saudi stock exchange. Entaj – formally known as the Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment – is the fourth company to list on Saudi Arabia’s main market this year. […]

Shareholders in Borouge are due to vote on a proposed dividend and 2.5 percent share buyback on April 7

Borouge proposes share buyback after merger stock slide

Abu Dhabi petrochemicals company Borouge will seek shareholder approval to buy back up to 2.5 percent of its shares, it said on Monday, after its share price plunged on this month’s news of its merger deal with Austria’s Borealis.  Borouge’s majority shareholder Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austria’s OMV said they had agreed to merge […]

Kingdom Holding Company owner Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, pictured last year at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena

Kingdom Holding to pay 2024 dividend despite revenue drop

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the conglomerate owned by Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, will pay an annual dividend despite a fall in revenues for 2024. The dividend payout will reach SAR1 billion ($267 million), or 2.8 percent of its capital, the investment company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Monday. […]

Workers use an excavator at the Faw port project site in Faw, in the southern province of Basra, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

Iraq’s long delayed Faw port nears completion

Iraq’s long-delayed redevelopment and construction of its Faw port near the Arabian Gulf will be completed this year, the Iraq state news agency reported, paving the way for improved access for goods to Iraq and beyond. South Korea’s Daewoo won a $2.6 billion contract to build five main piers at the port in 2010 and […]

Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas

Riyadh Air seeks tie-up with Indian carriers

Saudi Arabia’s newest airline Riyadh Air is exploring potential tie-ups with Indian carriers IndiGo and Air India, CEO Tony Douglas has said. The conversations are at an early stage but offer a “win-win” proposition, he told The Indian Express news daily. India is a “super important” market, Douglas said, as Saudi Arabia expects India to […]

Jazeera Airways CEO Barathan Pasupathi bought roughly $250,000 worth of shares in the airline

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways CEO buys shares in his own airline

The CEO of Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways has bought 80,000 shares in his own company as the airline embarks on a five-year plan to boost performance. Barathan Pasupathi purchased the shares between March 9 and 13, according to company disclosures on the Kuwaiti Bourse, buying shares worth $250,000 in a series of transactions last week. Shares […]

Mubadala has oil and gas investments in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman

Adnoc targets Mubadala’s energy assets

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is reportedly considering acquiring the energy assets of Mubadala Investment Company, one of the emirate’s sovereign wealth funds. Talks between the two companies, which stalled over valuation, are expected to resume soon, possibly after the end of Ramadan, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. The deal was previously valued […]

The 17 aircraft are expected to reduce DAE's weighted average passenger fleet age to 6.9 years

Dubai Aerospace buys 17 aircraft for $1bn

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the Middle East’s largest aviation leasing and engineering company, has acquired 17 aircraft for $1 billion from multiple sellers, the company said in a statement. Eighty percent of the aircraft are manufactured by Airbus, while the remaining 20 percent are from Boeing. The aircraft have been leased to 11 airlines in […]

Tabreed is the exclusive provider of district cooling for Burj Khalifa

Dubai’s Tabreed explores acquisitions for expansion

Dubai-listed district cooling company Tabreed is aiming to expand through acquisitions and organic growth in the UAE and global markets. “We aim to grow our connected capacity by 3 percent to 5 percent annually over 2025 to 2027,” chief financial officer Adel Salem Al Wahedi wrote in the company’s 2024 annual integrated board report. The […]

Person, Worker, Clothing

Turkey imports crude from Brazil after Russian oil ban

Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tupras is set to receive a cargo of Itapu crude early next month, its first such purchase from Brazil, according to a source, and ship tracking data. Tupras last month said it had stopped buying Russian crude after the US announced new sanctions on Russia’s oil industry on January 10. The cargo of […]