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Wednesday, 8 July 2020

Egypt tops MENA FDI charts in 2019 with USD 13.7 bn

Egypt was the top destination in MENA for FDI last year: Egypt attracted USD 13.7 bn worth of foreign direct investments(FDI) in 2019, putting it atop the Middle East and North Africa region league table, according to a report from the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman). FDI inflows to Egypt accounted for 23% of total netted by MENA countries and was up 7% from 2018. Egypt also topped the chart of average value per investment at USD 98 mn and registered the highest average number of jobs created per project at 180 jobs.

The UAE ranked first in the region in terms of the number of projects, as the country saw 445 projects in 2019, followed by Egypt with 140 projects and Saudi Arabia at 134 projects. The three counties were also the sole destinations to move the needle on real estate investment, led by Egypt by a significant margin at USD 7.1 bn, followed by the UAE at USD 1.3 bn and USD 0.6 bn in Saudi Arabia.

These numbers are significantly higher than the figures put out by the UN last month: According to UNCTAD, Egypt received USD 9 bn in FDI during 2019 — an 11% increase from the year before — making it the biggest recipient of FDI in Africa.

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