Indications Of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows In Saudi

By: Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Al-Naimi

At a time when the world is suffering from uncertainty and the economic landscape seems cloudy, especially in light of the tensions witnessed in some regions, Saudi Arabia is moving forward towards achieving the goals of Vision 2030, announced in 2016, the social and economic transformations witnessed and witnessed by Saudi Arabia within the framework of Vision 2030, and has achieved exceptional growth in all nine promising sectors, which provided investors with tremendous opportunities to develop their businesses and achieve success, among these opportunities, foreign direct investment from the European Union in the Kingdom showed strong growth in 2022 compared to the previous year, and in many different sectors, the trade volume reached Between the Kingdom and the EU 80 billion euros in the same period, representing an annual growth of 30%.

During the forum, which concluded in Riyadh on October 23, 2023, 8 memoranda of Understanding were signed between the government and the private sector, where the government sector signed 4 memoranda of understanding with the private sector in the sectors of machinery and equipment, culture, entrepreneurship, education and training, while the private sector signed 4 memoranda of understanding, including the sectors of energy, water, wastewater treatment and modern food technology.

The partnership with the EU countries is important and strong, as more than 1,300 European companies invest in the kingdom, pointing to the presence of important Saudi investments in most EU countries, according to “Waas”.

The Saudi Ministry of investment announced a few days ago updated statistics on foreign direct investment in the kingdom under the new methodology, the most accurate, as the balance of foreign direct investment reached 775 billion riyals (207 billion dollars) in 2022, which makes the Kingdom ranked 16th among the economies of the group of twenty countries, and represents a correction by reduction of the data estimated, under the previous methodology, about one trillion riyals (269 billion dollars), which accurately reflects, through the updated figures, the reality of foreign direct investment in the Saudi economy, and confirms the extent of transparency its indicators.

Foreign direct investment flows under the new methodology amounted to about 122 billion riyals (33 billion dollars) during 2022, which is double the foreign direct investment flows in 2015, which makes the Kingdom ranked 10th among the economies of the group of twenty in 2022.

The Saudi minister of investment, Engineer Khalid al-Falih, also revealed, during the Bloomberg New Economy conference in Singapore on October 8, 2023, the issuance of 180 licenses to international companies to move their regional headquarters to Riyadh, thereby exceeding the targets of the country drawn in this direction, pointing out that the kingdom seeks to grant licenses to 10 companies a week, al-Falih also pointed to the strength of relations between Saudi Arabia and China, as the largest trading partner and importer of exports in the country, and in a special interview to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the conference, al-Falih said that Saudi Arabia was aiming to reach to 160 regional headquarters of global companies by the end of 2023.

There is no doubt that all the economies of countries have aspects that distinguish them from the rest of the countries. Still, there are seven connotations, reasons or features of these successes in Saudi Arabia without other countries, namely :

1-Unique investment opportunities presented by the kingdom in the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030, and distinct possibilities and opportunities for investors through a number of mega projects in nine investment sectors available to investors.

2- Ambitious series of reforms: over the past years, the kingdom has witnessed a series of unprecedented structural reforms, from the enactment of laws, regulations and regulations to international organizations, to enable economic transformation, which in turn contributed to making the kingdom a pioneer of reform in the business environment, as it achieved a qualitative leap in ease and speed and start doing business, to achieve the vision targets of 3 trillion dollars’ worth of investments planned within the projects of Vision 2030.

3- Strategic geographical location: the kingdom has sought to invest its geographical location, which is located in the middle of three continents, through a package of major projects launched by it to enhance integration in the logistics system and modern modes of transport, in addition to the kingdom’s strong and advanced digital infrastructure, which has greatly contributed to accelerating the digital transformation process in it, through excellent networking internally and internationally by 13%؜ of global maritime trade through the Red Sea, including ten seaports that constitute the largest maritime networks in the Middle East.

4- Attractive economic cities: the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has developed industrial and economic cities aimed at developing local areas and contributing to economic diversity, and the kingdom has provided more than 35 industrial and economic cities at competitive prices.

5- A young workforce and efficiency: approximately 58% of Saudis are under the age of 35, and this young category has high talents and competencies and is distinguished by its high level of education and the continuous support provided by the government to them about 50 billion dollars for the education sector in 2021.

6- Improving the quality of life: the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the safest countries in the world.in addition to providing high-quality healthcare services, it contributes to many initiatives and strategic goals that it has set in building and developing the necessary environment to develop more vital options that enhance positive lifestyles and increase the interaction of citizens and residents in society by providing salaries without taxes.

7- Distinguished financial sector: the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is distinguished by its solid banking system and its leading financial sector that supports its national economy and contributes to diversifying its sources of income, as the Kingdom occupies the second place among the group of twenty countries for the ratio of bank capital to assets, and the fifteenth place globally in the financial safety of banks in 2019, with a ratio of 36% of non-cash equity transactions in 2020 of total transactions, 88%؜ of banking sector assets to GDP in 2019, and 60% of bank credits in the sector and more than 60 fintech startups in the Saudi market, which are based in Saudi Arabia.