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29 March 2024

UAE tops Arabs in foreign equity investment

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By Staff

The UAE has emerged as the most attractive Arab destination for foreign investors in its equities, attracting more than $22 billion in 2009, nearly 30 per cent of the total foreign equity investment in the Arab region.

Official figures showed foreign investment in the UAE’s equity market, including stocks, bonds and IPOs totalled around $22.7 billion at the end of 2009, higher than its level of $21.2bn at the end of 2008.Qatar was the second largest Arab target for foreign capital, followed by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon, showed the figures by the Kuwait-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC).

“The UAE maintained its position as the largest destination for foreign equity investment from both Arab and non-Arab investors,” said IAIGC, a key Arab League establishment.

“Most of the investments are from Kuwait, Bahrain, Britain, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and Luxembourg.”

The report, which gave no data for 2010, showed foreign equity investment stood at $10.1 billion in Qatar at the end of 2009, $8.8bn in Bahrain, 8.5bn in Saudi Arabia, $8.3bn in Egypt, 4.1bn in Tunisia, $3.4bn in Lebanon, $2.7bn in Kuwait, and around $twobn in Morocco.

Djibouti, Mauritania and Libya had the lowest foreign equity capital, standing at around $88 million, $78m and $14m respectively.Total foreign equity investment in the Arab region was put at nearly $76.4bn at the end of 2009 compared with about $74.5bn at the end of 2008.