UAE to hit $30 billion in FDI inflows this year

Despite geopolitical tensions, the Emirates will continue to attract foreign investment by offering a stable economy and investor-friendly rules

Ashwani Kumar

Published: Tue 7 May 2024, 5:34 PM

Last updated: Tue 7 May 2024, 8:41 PM

The UAE is poised to hit a record $30 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) inflows this year, a top official said during the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) Congress 2024 in Abu Dhabi.

Jamal Al Jarwan, secretary general of the UAE International Investors Council, noted that despite geopolitical tensions, the Emirates will continue to attract foreign investment by offering a stable economy and investor-friendly rules and regulations.

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KT Photo: Ashwani Kumar

“Luckily, in spite of the geopolitics, as long as you have opportunities and stability, I believe wholeheartedly that the UAE, this year, will be scoring another record. We’ve done $24 billion in 2022. We’ve done $27 billion in 2023. I can comfortably say we will be in the region of a $30 billion FDI inflow to the UAE. And I think we are marching towards that point,” Al Jarwan said during a panel discussion at the AIM Congress 2024 – a leading global investment platform.

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“We are the least risky market in the world.”

As per UNCTAD, the UAE recorded the second-highest increase in the number of new foreign investment projects last year. According to the World Investment Report 2023, the UAE recorded an FDI inflow of $22.7 billion in 2022.

Diversification strategy

“If you look at the 50-year journey, I can characterise that this stable country has succeeded in deregulating its policies and updating it dynamically. The UAE has shifted the structure of its economy from purely oil and gas-based revenue to non-oil and gas. This is very critical. To have sustainable economic development, you have to rely on other natural resources.”

Through its successful diversification efforts, the UAE has made significant progress in reducing its reliance on oil and gas. Currently, the non-oil sector makes up more than 70 per cent of the UAE’s GDP.

“The UAE is a role model, a catalyst, that has really proven over the years to become a dynamic business hub. And investors saw that.”

Al Jarwan underlined that the UAE’s GDP will continue to grow in 2024.

“I believe our economy in spite of the geopolitical tension, we are still handling traffic of foreign trade of the globe, more than 20 per cent of goods that pass our land, ports or air. So we are in a good situation.”

$1 trillion economy by 2031

Al Jarwan revealed that the UAE has made investments abroad to the tune of $2.5 trillion.

“Looking at our assets under management today. I‘ve been monitoring for the last nine years. And I can announce that the UAE today has more than $2.5 trillion worth of assets outside of 90 countries. This is not easy.”

Al Jarwan noted that the UAE will be a $1 trillion economy by 2031.

“We have scored half a trillion dollars of GDP. So far, the UAE has $500 billion of GDP. In 2031, we are going to reach $1 trillion of GDP. So, we become a member of the G20. That’s our aim.”

Al Jarwan asserted that the UAE will continue to invest in other countries.

“We’re not going to stop. UAE has a strategy. We’ve been executing it so diligently for the last 50 years. We started in the 90s with $15 billion investment, today we are talking about $2.5 trillion worth of assets in 90 countries,” he said, additionally highlighting the UAE’s historic $35 billion investment agreement with Egypt for the development of Ras Al Hekma.

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