RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks witnessed an increase of 0.7 percent, recording more than SR1 trillion ($266 billion) during the fourth quarter of 2022 on a quarterly basis. This indicates the effectiveness of the efforts made towards enhancing investment attractiveness by developing the environment and providing incentives to investors, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Investment. FDI stocks measure the total level of direct investment at a given point in time, usually the end of a quarter or of a year. The outward FDI stock is the value of the resident investors' equity in and net loans to enterprises in foreign economies. The ministry reported that the Saudi government has completed 104 investment deals during the first quarter of this year, compared to 101 deals during the same period of the previous year, recording an increase of about three percent. There has been a steady increase in the number of investors in the Kingdom. It is evident from the number of investment deals in accordance with economic activities that innovation and entrepreneurship, and sports had the largest share of investor interest in the first quarter of this year, with 76 deals for the innovation and entrepreneurship sector, and 13 for the sports sector. The report noted that the United Arab Emirates ranked first with about 13 deals, followed by the United Kingdom and Egypt with about 11 deals each, while the rest of the deals were distributed among a number of countries. The investment licenses issued in the first quarter of this year posted an increase of 34 percent, by about 1600 licenses, compared to 1200 in the same period of the previous year, after excluding the licenses issued under the campaign to correct the conditions of violators of the Commercial Concealment Law. The majority of the investment licenses issued were concentrated in construction activity, manufacturing industries, vocational, educational and technical activities, wholesale and retail trade, information and communications, as well as accommodation and food services. The number of investment licenses issued in the most popular activities constituted about 80 percent of the total number of licenses in the first quarter of this year. Egypt was the topper in terms of the number of investment licenses issued during the first quarter with about 383, followed by India with about 208 licenses, then Yemen with 188 licenses, while Syria ranked fourth with 130 licenses, and Jordan came fifth with 104 licenses. The report revealed a decrease in foreign direct investment flows to the Kingdom by 0.4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the same period of the year 2021, when it amounted to about SR7.2 billion ($1.9 billion). Last year, foreign direct investment flows increased by 14.7 percent, reaching about SR30 billion compared to 2021, after excluding the Aramco deal from the flows of the previous year, which confirms the Kingdom's progress towards attracting more investments and raising the confidence of foreign investors in the investment environment in the country. The Ministry of Investment, in coordination with other government agencies, played a fundamental role in promoting investment and attracting investors by organizing more than 11,000 activities during the first quarter of this year in various sectors, including real estate, renewable energy, and iron and steel, in addition to participating in many investment forums between the Kingdom and a number of countries. The ministry's efforts focused on providing a safe and more competitive investment environment, and working on developing investment systems and procedures with its partners from government agencies, in order to complete the legislative and regulatory structure.
