Dubai tops world ranking for foreign direct investment

Dubai ranked first in the world in attracting foreign direct investment projects and second in attracting corporate headquarters in 2021.

In tweets posted on Sunday, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, highlighted the continuing success of the city.

Dubai has achieved a new milestone of becoming the world’s top ranked FDI destination in 2021 and the 2nd ranked globally in attracting Headquarters FDI projects. This achievement has been made possible by @HHShkMohd’s farsighted and visionary leadership. pic.twitter.com/LKmDboooUv

— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) May 8, 2022

"We continue to consolidate Dubai World's position and strengthen its partnerships with the global investment community through a flexible, diversified and futuristic economy," he wrote.

He continued, "We will further enhance our efforts to raise Dubai’s global competitiveness and strengthen partnerships with the international investment community by providing a stable, sustainable, open and diversified business environment that offers new opportunities for growth & innovation."

We will further enhance our efforts to raise Dubai’s global competitiveness and strengthen partnerships with the international investment community by providing a stable, sustainable, open and diversified business environment that offers new opportunities for growth & innovation.

— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) May 8, 2022

The annual 'DUBAI FDI Results and Rankings Highlights Report 2021' ranked Dubai first globally in attracting greenfield FDI projects in 2021, up from the third position last year, with a staggering 418 greenfield FDI projects. The report was based on data from the Financial Times Ltd. 'fDi Markets', is the world's leading source of data on greenfield FDI projects.

Moreover, 'fDi Markets' data for the year 2021 showed that Dubai continued to maintain and improve on its lead position across key FDI attraction metrics, ranking first in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), and third globally, up from fourth place last year, in FDI capital inflows. In Reinvestment FDI projects, Dubai ranked first in the MENA region and third globally (up from fourth place last year) and seventh globally (up from eleventh-place last year) in FDI capital inflows. As for FDI job creation, Dubai ranked first in the MENA region and fifth globally, up from the sixth-place last year.

The 'DUBAI FDI Results and Rankings Highlights Report 2021' is based on ‘Dubai FDI Monitor,' which tracks, validates, and provides analysis on all types of FDI projects into Dubai, including greenfield FDI projects, data on FDI Reinvestment projects, Mergers and Acquisitions, Joint-Ventures, and New Forms of Investments (NFIs), along with the recently added Venture Capital (VC) Backed FDI.

The report revealed significant growth in all key FDI indicators compared to the previous year, where the estimated value of FDI capital flows into Dubai exceeded AED26 billion from a total of 618 announced FDI projects in 2021, with a growth rate of 5.5 percent compared to 2020. Both FDI projects and FDI job creation witnessed a significant increase of 36 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, with an estimated 24,868 jobs in 2021, compared to 18,325 jobs in the previous year.