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| Saudi Arabia may attract $36b of FDI in 2010 -UNCTAD official |
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Posted on 26 Jul 2010 |
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Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, may attract foreign direct investments of about $36 billion this year, an official at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD, said.
The kingdom was the eighth largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the world in 2009, attracting $36 billion, compared with $38 billion in 2008, said Taffere Tesfachew, chief of the Office of UNCTAD Secretary-General and Strategy and Policy.
“The kingdom was the best performer in the Middle East last year, and I expect it to match the same levels of FDI in 2010,” he told Zawya Dow Jones in a telephone interview.
Top sources of FDI inflows to the kingdom, a member of the Group of 20 leading economies, during last year included the United States with $5.8 billion, followed by Kuwait with $4.3 billion and the United Arab Emirates with $3.8 billion.
“Despite the global economic crisis, the kingdom saw impressive growth and it has earned investor confidence from global entrepreneurs,” Tesfachew said.
Saudi Arabia, which has filled its coffers with surplus income from oil exports this decade, has like other nations boosted spending on infrastructure, health care and education to underpin economic growth.
It has drawn on its reserves to fund record budgets and keep its $400 billion five-year infrastructure development program on track.
Saudi Arabia’s finance ministry said Tuesday it approved 1420 contracts for various projects the country valued at 71.5 billion Saudi riyals ($19.1 billion) during the first half of 2010.
The kingdom, which invested its surplus income in low risk bonds during the oil price boom last decade, spent over $30 billion in 2009 from its net foreign assets to keep its economy growing. Policy makers say this counter-cyclical strategy helps dampen downturns for countries dependent on income from oil exports.
Dow Jones Newswires
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