In a statement last week, the Arab Corporation for Investment and Export Credit Guarantee (Daman) said that foreign direct investment projects coming to the region during the year 2022 increased by 74 percent to 1,617 projects worth over US$200 billion.
The statement noted that most of these projects were concentrated in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates. Over the past two decades, Arab countries received in excess of 16,000 projects worth a combined value of $15.5 trillion and created more than two million new jobs in Arab countries.
Director General of Daman, Abdullah Al-Sabeeh,pointed out in the statement, that monitoring by 30 independent international entities on over 155 indicators related to investment climate, revealed significant changes in the ranking of Arab countries on global indices in four main groups of indicators (political, economic, organizational, and production factors) during 2022.
Al-Sabeeh explained that the outcome of changes in the status of Arab countries in international indicators reflected positively on the number of direct foreign projects coming to the region and their investment costs, with expectations of continued strong performance in 2023.
The number of foreign projects coming to the region increased by 28 percent, and the value of these projects rose by 70 percent, to reach $74 billion during the first third of 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, especially with the political and economic conditions in the region improving.
Daman, a joint Arab body owned by Arab countries in addition to four Arab financial institutions, was established in 1974 with its headquarters in Kuwait.