Dubai is No.1 for greenfield FDI projects

Dubai has ranked No. 1 for attracting global greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2023, for the third successive year, according to the Financial Times’ ‘fDi Markets’ data.

The city was also No. 1 globally within key clusters including consumer goods, energy, e-commerce, and tourism for Greenfield FDI projects attraction, Greenfield FDI capital attraction, and jobs created through FDI attraction, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

According to “Dubai FDI Monitor” data, the emirate recorded a total of 1,650 announced FDI projects in 2023, a strong growth of 39% compared to the 1,188 FDI projects in 2022. These projects included Greenfield FDI, new forms of investments (NFIs), mergers and acquisitions (M&A), reinvestments, venture capital (VC)-backed FDI, and Greenfield joint ventures.

The top five source countries by total estimated FDI capital into Dubai in 2023 were Canada (26.5%), United States (17.5%), Saudi Arabia (8.9%), United Kingdom (8.2%), and India (5.5%), while the top five source countries based on total announced FDI projects were the United States (15.5%), United Kingdom (15.3%), India (14.9%), France (6.3%), and Italy (3.6%).
Trade Arabia

The top five sectors accounted for 67.6% of the total estimated FDI capital flows into Dubai in 2023, and 69.3% of total announced FDI projects, according to Dubai FDI Monitor data.

In 2023, the top five business functions accounted for 73.7% of the total estimated FDI capital flows into Dubai, and 96% of total announced FDI projects, according to Dubai FDI Monitor data.