ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates has pumped over US$55 billion into foreign markets over the past three decades to emerge as the largest Arab capital exporter.
According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), official data also showed that the UAE has received more than $85 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during that period to become the second largest Arab market for foreign capital after Saudi Arabia.
During 1980-2011, FDI flow out of the UAE stood at around US$55.5 billion, nearly 31 per cent of the total Arab capital outflow of nearly $176.8 billion, showed the figures by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC).
The report gave no figures for 2012 but the UAE is believed to have channeled more investment into foreign markets after its current account recorded its highest surplus of US$60 billion due to a surge to a record high of US$124 billion.
The report showed the bulk of the FDI flow out of the UAE was during 2006-2008, when it totaled nearly US$41.1 billion. The outflow largely slowed down in the following years to reach an average US$ two billion a year.
As for FDI inflow, the report showed Saudi Arabia was largest recipient of such investments, with around US$186.8 billion during that period.
The UAE came second with FDI inflow of about US$85.4 billion, followed by Egypt with US$72.6 billion, Morocco with US$46.3 billion, Tunisia with US$31.4 billion and Qatar with nearly US$30.4 billion, according to the figures.
FDI flow stood at US$23.3 billion in Jordan, US$22 billion in Sudan, US$21.7 billion in Algeria, US$16.3 billion in Libya, US$15.9 billion in Bahrain and US$15 billion in Oman.
The report showed the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly 42 per cent of the total Arab FDI outflow of around US$645 billion during 1980-2011. (QNA)
