General

At the recently held International Investment Conference in the United Arab Emirates, Investment Monitor released a report titled "Greenfield Investment in the Middle East and Africa 2022", stating that foreign direct investment in various regions of the world is on the rise in 2022. Compared to before the epidemic, the Middle East and Africa have become the regions with the fastest growth rate in attracting foreign direct investment globally. Foreign direct investment in the Middle East has almost doubled, while in Africa, it has increased by 1/3. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

The report points out that over 100 countries and regions invested in the Middle East last year. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, and Qatar are the five countries in the region that attract the most foreign investment. The reason for the report analysis is that Saudi Arabia mainly attracts foreign investment through vigorously developing the tourism industry, South Africa is the African country with the most concentrated investment in data centers, Egypt has numerous renewable energy projects, the World Cup has expanded Qatar's visibility, and Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates attracted approximately 700 foreign direct investment projects, a year-on-year increase of 16%. 80% of the foreign capital attracted by the UAE flows to Dubai, mainly in software and information services, business process outsourcing, financial services and other fields. Analysts point out that a stable political environment, sound infrastructure, and a good business environment are key factors for the UAE to continue attracting foreign investment. The Economic Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah, recently stated that despite the challenges facing the global economy, the UAE will remain committed to implementing economic openness policies and integrating into the global trading system. The Afghan government will continue to prioritize attracting foreign investment and take effective measures such as relaxing entry conditions for foreign investment and simplifying visa procedures to attract more funds and talents. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reports.

In recent years, in order to accelerate economic transformation, countries in the Middle East and Africa region have continued to introduce policies and measures to encourage foreign investment. Egypt has established the Supreme Investment Committee directly led by President Sesi and the Ministerial Investment Coordination Committee led by the Prime Minister, revised a series of laws such as the Investment Law, Company Law, and Income Tax Law, and established multiple investment parks to improve investment carrying capacity. South Africa held its first investment conference in 2018, with a goal of attracting 1.2 trillion rand (approximately 19 rand) of investment within 5 years. By April of this year, South Africa had attracted R 1.51 trillion in investment. Recently, South African President Ramafusa stated that the South African government is drafting its first National Investment Strategy and plans to attract 2 trillion rand of new investment from 2023 to 2028, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Watch.

According to data, there were multiple high-value investments in the Middle East and Africa region last year, such as cooperation between Chinese and French companies investing $10 billion in energy development in Uganda; An Indian company has invested 13 billion US dollars to build a green hydrogen plant in Egypt; A British company has invested $865 million in Saudi Arabia to build a steel plant and other facilities. The head of the Investment and Enterprise Department of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development recently stated, "In the long run, the African continent has great potential in attracting green economy, blue economy, and infrastructure investment

Glenn Buckley, Chief Economist of Investment Monitoring, stated that the digital economy is an important area for attracting foreign investment in the Middle East and Africa region. Enterprises are investing heavily in digitization to improve efficiency and security. Factors such as geopolitical, supply chain, and energy transformation have also driven investment. Investment in the Middle East is biased towards technology and services, while investment in Africa is biased towards media and communication. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.