The International Monetary Fund reported that the total foreign direct investments in Kuwait was 14.565 billion dollars at the end of last year, while the direct investments outward from Kuwait was about 32.741 billion dollars, which means that the outward direct investments are more than double what the country attracted in terms of foreign direct investments.
Al-Rai has learned according to recent data issued by the IMF, Qatar ranked first in terms of the flow of foreign direct investments to Kuwait with $3.288 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia with $908 million, the UAE with 848 million, Bahrain with 746 million, and Oman in fifth place with $440 million.
On the other hand, the Cayman Islands ranked first in attracting Kuwaiti investments, worth 4.451 billion dollars in outward investments from Kuwait, followed by Bahrain with 3.728 billion, then Saudi Arabia with 3.401 billion, Iraq with 3.126 billion, and Turkey with 2 .932 billion dollars.
According to the latest results of the coordinated direct investment survey conducted by the IMF, the United States, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, China, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany were the top ten recipients of foreign direct investment in the world at the end of last year reportedly at about $2.2 trillion, or 6 percent, from 2019 to 2020 (among the economies that reported data for 2019 and 2020).
Despite the uncertainties posed by the corona virus pandemic, the increase in foreign direct investment was largely in line with the average annual increase over the past five years.
The fund stated that the increase in FEI from 2019 to 2020 was driven by increases in Europe and Asia Pacific, where the United Kingdom topped the list in Europe by 18 and 15%, respectively, and in the Asia Pacific region, China was the main driver of the increase, as it showed The largest increase reported in both inward and outward direct investment worldwide, while centers of foreign direct investment in Africa decreased slightly from 2019.
The United States took the leading position as the largest recipient of FDI in 2019, and strengthened this position in 2020, driven primarily by rising direct investment from Japan, Germany and the Netherlands, with these three economies together accounting for most of the increase in FDI in the United States over the three years past.
Low-tax countries such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland remained among the largest direct investors and investing economies, and continued to be attractive destinations for various types of investments, including those directed through special purpose entities.
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