Business in Dubai: Prospects for Overseas Capital
2021 has once again proven that nothing can undermine the positive investment climate in the UAE and business in Dubai, not even a global pandemic.
While the world was facing a 20% decline in capital investment, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the United Arab Emirates hit the 20 billion-dollar mark last year. Major capital flows for business in Dubai originated from the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain, and India.
2021 became an important year for Dubai because of other indicators, too. Based on data provided by the Dubai Investment Development Agency and Department of Economy and Tourism, the emirate was:
🏆Ranked first in the region and third globally in capital concentration in the Middle East and North Africa.
🏆Ranked second in terms of the number of headquarters of local and world-class companies.
Dubai has kept its status as a leader in attracting FDI for 20 years now. What’s especially interesting is that the years when the world got shattered by the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated unprecedented figures in this respect.
This is also explained by favorable conditions for doing business in Dubai and the sensible approach of the country’s officials that managed to enhance the region’s investment attractiveness while implementing the necessary anti-epidemic measures.
Aside from that, sweeping legislative changes took place in the legal and economic domains. In particular, the authorities granted foreign nationals the full ownership of onshore UAE companies. This produced almost instant results, making business in Dubai flourish even more:
✔As compared to 2020, the overall value of the investment capital grew 5.5%, totaling 7 billion dollars.
✔618 investment projects emerged in the region.
✔The number of new jobs increased by 36% in the span of a year.
The most prominent investment areas in 2021 included the service industry with 28% of all capital investments, residential real estate development with 15%, and the electrical energy industry with 10%.
The United Arab Emirates will continue to expand the volumes of foreign direct investments. What’s more, there is a good chance that 2022 will once again become a record-breaking year as far as FDI goes.