RIYADH: Foreign direct investment flows into developing economies dropped to $435 billion in 2023, the lowest level since 2005, as rising trade barriers, geopolitical tensions and growing fragmentation curbed cross-border investment.
In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said FDI into advanced economies also dropped, sinking to $336 billion — the weakest level since 1996.
While data for the 2023 calendar year is the latest available from the World Bank, net FDI into Saudi Arabia — one of the world’s top emerging markets — reached SR22.1 billion ($5.89 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024, representing a 26 percent increase compared to the previous three months, according to the Kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics.
Saudi Arabia is aiming to attract $100 billion in FDI annually by the end of this decade, as it seeks to make significant strides in diversifying its economy and reducing its decades-long dependence on oil revenues.
Commenting on the findings, Indermit Gill, chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank Group, said: “What we’re seeing is a result of public policy. It’s not a coincidence that FDI is plumbing new lows at the same time that public debt is reaching record highs.”
