Page 313 - MOE ENGLISH PR REPORT - JUNE 2024

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“The figures in the report confirm that the UAE is continuing to move in the right
direction to strengthen its position as a preferred global destination for foreign investors
seeking a growth-stimulating business environment and a haven for ambitious
entrepreneurs and creative thinkers seeking to transform their ideas and aspirations into
tangible reality under the qualitative privileges provided by the State through its world-
class infrastructure, flexible legislation and advanced technology, and its initiatives that
stimulate business in various sectors and economic activities,” he added.

The minister cited in this regard the NextGenFDI initiative, the first integrated package
to facilitate company formation and offer banking, visa and real estate services in a
streamlined manner through a whole-of-government approach.

He also pointed to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA)
programme that the UAE has been implementing since the end of 2021, and under
which the UAE has concluded agreements with countries of strategic investment and
trade importance on the map of the global economy, with the aim of stimulating trade
and investment flows between promising markets with about a quarter of the world’s
population.” He added: “The value of foreign direct investment that the UAE was able to
attract in 2023, amounting to $30.7 billion, is equivalent to about three times that of its
closest competitors in the Middle East. And therefore the country has been able to
maintain its top position as the most attractive country for investment in the Arab world
and regionally with a clear superiority, where it accounted for 45.4% of the total FDI
inflows to the Arab countries amounting to $67.6 billion, and 47.1% of the total inflows to
West Asia amounting to $65.2 billion, and also about 38.6% of the total foreign direct
investment inflows to the Middle East and North Africa region amounting to $79.5 billion
in 2023.”

Al Zeyoudi pointed out that the UNCTAD data on FDI inflows and outflows confirms that
the UAE continues to make steady and confident progress on the path towards
economic diversification and sustainable growth.

A day earlier, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) said that it
expects the country’s strong foreign trade performance to continue in 2024 and 2025,
sustaining its projected growth for the UAE’s real GDP in 2024 at 3.9 per cent, with
expectations for it to further accelerate to 6.2 per cent in 2025.

In its June 2024 Economic Quarterly Review, the apex bank said that country’s non-
hydrocarbon GDP growth is expected to remain strong at 5.4 per cent in 2024 and 5.3
per cent in 2025, with the hydrocarbon sector set to grow by 0.3 per cent in 2024,
followed by further expansion by 8.4 per cent in 2025.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the UAE economy expanded 4.3 per cent YoY, above the
2.5 per cent growth registered in Q3 2023. The quarterly increase is due to both, non-

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