Economy: It advanced 4 ranks and outperformed a number of major economies

The UAE is the first in the region and the 15th in the world in the "Kearney" index of confidence in foreign investment

• The speed of the economy's recovery from the repercussions of "Covid-19" is one of the factors that increase investor confidence.

  Photography: Patrick Castillo

• Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi: "New evidence of the strength of the country's economy and its ability to overcome the challenges of the global economic scene."

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The UAE ranked first in the Arab world and regionally, and 15th in the world in the "Kearney" index of confidence in foreign direct investment for the year 2021, up four ranks compared to the year 2020, and outperforming a number of major global economies in the general ranking of the index, such as: Singapore, Australia, Portugal Denmark, Ireland, Brazil, and Finland.

Confidence rise

The Ministry of Economy confirmed in a statement yesterday that the UAE’s progress in the “Kearney” index reflects the high confidence of investors, business managers and executives in the country's economy, its promising growth opportunities, and the speed of its recovery from the repercussions of the “Covid-19” crisis, as the country is among five countries. It achieved higher confidence compared to 2020, namely: Norway, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark, at a time when confidence in the global economies of many great countries declined.

Efficiency approach

The Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, confirmed that the UAE’s achievement of the first place in the Arab world and 15th in the world on the “Kearney Index of Confidence in Foreign Direct Investment” for the current year, is a new achievement that is added to the multiple and successive achievements of the UAE.

He added, "This indicator represents one of the most important indicators for measuring the performance of countries' economies, the components of their development, and the extent of their ability to attract foreign direct investments to achieve sustainable development and the economy of the future."

Al-Zeyoudi pointed out that the country's access to this global rank confirms the efficiency of the approach that the state adopts, in line with the vision and directives of the leadership, regarding the development of the national business environment, and the country's attractiveness for investments and various commercial activities, in order to achieve the strategic objectives of the state and the UAE Centennial 2071 by diversifying the sources of the national economy. Including boosting the growth of the non-oil GDP.

He explained that the progress made by the UAE in this vital and important indicator confirms the positive sentiment among investors, which is based on the government's strong commitment to economic diversity, innovation and infrastructure, and ease of doing business, and it is a new evidence of the strength and durability of the country's economy, and its ability to overcome the challenges that The global economic scene is currently permeated, and its efficiency in keeping pace with and facing emergencies, crises and global changes, and achieving rapid response by adopting the latest outputs of modern technology to anticipate the future economy.

Optimistic expectations

The index shows that the UAE, along with China and Brazil, are among the developing economies that have achieved success during the current year in attracting direct investments, and were selected to participate in the Kearney report this year.

The index shows that 57% of respondents expressed their optimism about the global economic outlook for the next three years, compared to 72% during 2020.

Economic growth

The results of the index also showed a change in the attitudes of investors, business managers and executives, regarding the economic expectations of a decline due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite this, they were more optimistic about the following countries: Japan, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, the Emirates, and Australia, that they achieved economic growth during The next three years.

This is attributed to the fact that these markets have strengths in technology and infrastructure, high levels of innovation, in addition to their high and effective response to the epidemic, as they are rich markets with high consumer purchases.

Factors of economic growth over the next 3 years

1- Technology and infrastructure strengths.

2- High levels of innovation.

3- High and effective response to the "Covid-19" pandemic.

4- Rich markets with high consumer purchases.

The UAE is the representative of the Middle East and Africa

The UAE is the only country that has been selected, for the second year in a row, representing the countries of the Middle East and Africa, to be among the top 25 economies in the world subject to the survey, and the "Kearney Index of Confidence in Foreign Direct Investment" is measured, while the United States topped the index classification, followed by Canada in the center. Second, then Germany is the third, the United Kingdom is fourth, and Japan is ranked fifth.

Kearney Index

The Kearney Foreign Direct Investment Trust Index 2021 (FDICI) is the result of a survey targeting business executives, major investors and global CEOs of all companies with annual revenues of $ 500 million or more.

The poll on which the index was based was conducted between January and February 2021, while the selection of countries in the survey in the report's 25 countries is based on data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as these countries represented more than 95% of the global flow of investment. Foreign direct in recent years.

The service sector companies represent about 44% of the respondents, industrial companies 33%, and information technology companies 22%.

• The progress of the UAE reflects the high investor confidence in the country's economy, its promising growth opportunities, and the speed of recovery from the repercussions of "Covid-19".

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