Despite forecasts that 2009 would be a “dangerous year for world economies” due to the economic slowdown, Saudi Arabia will witness increased foreign direct investment (FDI) flows this year, said Amr Al-Dabbagh, Governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). Al-Dabbagh recently returned from his whirlwind tour of North America, where SAGIA profiled Saudi Arabia as a lucrative destination for foreign investors. Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, recently warned that 2009 would be a very dangerous year, saying that state stimulus alone would give only a short-lived economic boost that would soon evaporate unless credit flowed again. The WB chief was quoted in the media as saying that the world economic crisis will be deeper and longer if government stimulus packages are too modest and states fail to take joint action to fix their banks. However, Al-Dabbagh said: “Fortunately Saudi Arabia is today one of the least affected economies in the world.” He said the Kingdom's prudent regulatory framework governing the banking community has maintained the flow of debt and project finance which are the key components that investors look for. “Our message in the recent international tours is that debt flow and project finance are still healthy in Saudi Arabia,” he said. He said that he has portrayed the Kingdom as having some great opportunities for foreign investors in areas, such as, energy, transport and knowledge-based industries. “We have profiled Saudi Arabia as having investment opportunities to the tune of $600 billion in energy, transportation and knowledge-based industries,” he said. SAGIA has not audited the first quarter of this year but Al-Dabbagh said 2009 will be another great year for FDI flows in Saudi Arabia. Al-Dabbagh was speaking at a ‘recognition ceremony' held at the SAGIA office here, Saturday. Entitled “GCF could not have done it without you”, SAGIA organized the ceremony to honor media personnel for the coverage of the recently held GCF-2009 in respective newspapers and magazines. Al-Dabbagh presented a certificate of appreciation to Saudi Gazette for its “excellent coverage” of the GCF-2009 events. He said that during the recent international tour, SAGIA focused on targeting specific industries that were correlated to the Kingdom's core competitiveness and competitive advantages on energy, transportation and knowledge-based industries. “We have succeeded in drawing the attention of our targeted audience,” he added.
