‘Kuwaiti investments abroad exceed foreign investments’

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 8: According to a report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the total foreign direct investments in Kuwait amounted to $ 14.565 billion at the end of last year, and the direct investments outward from Kuwait amounted to about $ 32.741 billion. This means that the outward direct investments are more than double of the foreign direct investments that the country attracted, reports Al-Rai daily.

The report explained that Qatar ranked first in terms of the fl ow of foreign direct investments to Kuwait with a value of $ 3.288 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia with $ 908 million, the UAE with $ 848 million, Bahrain with $ 746 million, and Oman in fifth place with $ 440 million. On the other hand, the Cayman Islands ranked first in attracting Kuwaiti investments, receiving $ 4.451 billion in investments from Kuwait.

In second place is Bahrain with $ 3.728 billion, then Saudi Arabia with $ 3.401 billion, Iraq with $ 3.126 billion, and Turkey with $ 2.932 billion. According to the latest results of the coordinated direct investment survey conducted by the IMF, the United States, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, China, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany were the top ten recipients of foreign direct investment in the world at the end of last year. The total centers of foreign direct investment increased by about $ 2.2 trillion, or six percent, from 2019 to 2020 (among the economies that reported data for 2019 and 2020). Despite the uncertainties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in foreign direct investment was largely in line with the average annual increase over the past five years.

The IMF report stated that the increase in foreign direct investment during the period from 2019 to 2020 was driven by increases in Europe and Asia Pacific. The United Kingdom topped the list in Europe by 18 percent. In the Asia Pacific region, China was the main driver of the increase, as it showed the largest increase reported in both inward and outward direct investment worldwide.

The centers of foreign direct investment in Africa decreased slightly from 2019. The United States took the leading position as the largest recipient of FDI in 2019, and strengthened this position in 2020, driven primarily by increase in direct investments from Japan, Germany and The Netherlands. These three economies together accounted for most of the increase in FDI in the United States over the last three years. Low-tax countries such as The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland remained their places among the largest direct investors and investing economies. They continue to be attractive destinations for various types of investments, including those directed through special purpose entities.

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