Foreign investments’ Prospects, in Saudi Arabia

The value of foreign investments reached SR2.256 trillion at the end of the second quarter of this year, the highest level in history.

It increased by around SR128,035 billion, at a rate of 6% in the second quarter of this year, the largest increase in value since 2012 and the highest increase in percentage since the second quarter of 2019, i.e. 8 quarters.

The first type of foreign investment is direct investment, which accounted for 42.8 percent of all foreign investments at the end of the second quarter of this year, while the second type is portfolio investments, which accounted for SR759.407 billion, or 33.7% of all foreign investments in the quarter.
The Year 2021 is the second type. Other investments, with a total value of 531.485 billion riyals, will account for around 23.6% of foreign investments by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

The National Investment Strategy, which is one of the major ways to fulfill the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, was unveiled today by HRH Crown Prince.

The new approach is one of the most important ways to meet the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, as announced by HRH Crown Prince.
“Our country has great investment capacity,” Al-Ahed said when introducing the vision.

“We will endeavor to be an engine for our economy and an additional resource for our country,” He went on to say that the Kingdom is looking to invest in the strengths that God has placed in it, such as its prominent strategic location, pioneering investment power, and Arab and Islamic depth.

The national investment strategy will help the country’s economy grow and diversify its sources, achieving many of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, such as increasing the private sector’s contribution to GDP to 65% and promoting foreign direct investment to reach 5.7%, increasing the proportion of non-oil exports from 16% of non-oil GDP, lowering the unemployment rate to 7%, and increasing the proportion of non-oil exports from 16 percent to 50% of non-oil GDP.

The following table illustrates the value of foreign investments, in Saudi Arabia, as well as their change and percentage change over time (in trillion SRs):
End of the period Foreign investment Change, in figures Percentage change
Q1-2012 0.901 — —
Q2-2012 0.913 0.012 0.013
Q3-2012 0.932 0.019 0.021
Q4-2012 0.942 0.010 0.010
Q1-2013 0.961 0.019 0.020
Q2-2013 0.973 0.012 0.012
Q3-2013 0.992 0.019 0.020
Q4-2013 0.993 0.001 0.001
Q1-2014 1.026 0.033 0.033
Q2-2014 1.029 0.003 0.003
Q3-2014 1.040 0.011 0.010
Q4-2014 1.041 0.002 0.002
Q1-2015 1.041 -0.001 -0.001
Q2-2015 1.051 0.010 0.010
Q3-2015 1.141 0.090 0.085
Q4-2015 1.144 0.004 0.003
Q1-2016 1.152 0.008 0.007
Q2-2016 1.213 0.061 0.053
Q3-2016 1.215 0.002 0.002
Q4-2016 1.283 0.068 0.056
Q1-2017 1.260 -0.024 -0.018
Q2-2017 1.306 0.046 0.037
Q3-2017 1.309 0.003 0.002
Q4-2017 1.361 0.052 0.040
Q1-2018 1.390 0.030 0.022
Q2-2018 1.479 0.089 0.064
Q3-2018 1.492 0.013 0.009
Q4-2018 1.523 0.031 0.021
Q1-2019 1.606 0.083 0.055
Q2-2019 1.715 0.109 0.068
Q3-2019 1.756 0.041 0.024
Q4-2019 1.833 0.077 0.044
Q1-2020 1.877 0.044 0.024
Q2-2020 1.954 0.077 0.041
Q3-2020 1.987 0.033 0.017
Q4-2020 2.061 0.074 0.037
Q1-2021 2.128 0.067 0.033
Q2-2021 2.256 0.128 0.060