October 29, 2015
Bahrain EDB in cooperation with the MENA Centre for Investment hosted the launch event of the 2015 edition of the World Investment which demonstrated that Bahrain’s inward FDI stocks reached approximately $ 18.8 billion in 2014, equivalent to 55.4 % in comparison with the size of the gross domestic product (GDP), the highest in the GCC and well above the global average.
Mr Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EBD) participated at the event. He was joined by Dr. Zakaria Ahmed Hejres, Chairman of the MENA Centre for Investment along with Mr. Mohamed Chiraz Bali, representing the Division of Investment and Enterprise at UNCTAD, who presented the findings of the report to representatives from the private and public sectors and the media.
The report says that global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 16 per cent to $1.23 trillion in 2014, due to the fragility of the global economy, policy uncertainty for investors and geopolitical risks, as well as new investments being offset by some large divestments. China became the largest recipient of FDI, and nine of the largest twenty investor countries were from developing or transition economies. The shift towards FDI in services related sectors continued, due to increasing liberalisation and tradability of services.
FDI into West Asia, which covers a number of countries in the MENA region including the GCC members, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, also fell by 4 per cent to $43 billion, reflecting the global economic issues and ongoing security risks.
Turkey remained the largest FDI recipient in the West Asia region, whilst investment into the GCC remained “sluggish” despite continuing robust economic growth.
The full report can be found at: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DIAE/World%20Investment%20Report/World_Investment_Report.aspx
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