The total foreign direct investments in Kuwait amounted to $14.56 billion at the end of last year, and the direct investments outward from Kuwait amounted to about $32.74 billion, according to a report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The report explained that Qatar ranked first in terms of the flow of foreign direct investments to Kuwait with a value of $3.28 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia with $908 million, the UAE with $848 million, Bahrain with $746 million, and Oman in fifth place with $440 million.
On the other hand, the Cayman Islands ranked first in attracting Kuwaiti investments, receiving $4.45 billion in investments from Kuwait. In second place is Bahrain with $3.72 billion, then Saudi Arabia with $3.40 billion, Iraq with $3.12 billion, and Turkey with $2.93 billion.
According to the latest results of the coordinated direct investment survey conducted by the IMF, the US, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, China, the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany were the top ten recipients of foreign direct investment in the world at the end of last year.
The total centers of foreign direct investment raised by about $2.2 trillion, or 6 percent, from 2019 to 2020. Despite the uncertainties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in foreign direct investment was largely in line with the average annual increase over the past five years.
The IMF report stated that the increase in foreign direct investment during the period from 2019 to 2020 was driven by increases in Europe and the Asia Pacific. The UK topped the list in Europe by 18 percent. In the Asia Pacific region, China was the main driver of the increase, as it showed the largest increase reported in both inward and outward direct investment worldwide.
