The Saudi Deputy Defense Minister and Head of the Economic Offset Program, Emir Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, said that the Saudi economic offset program targets Saudi riyal (SR) 22 billion ($5.86 billion) in investments.
According to the London based Al-Hayat daily, Abdul-Aziz said that so far only SR 4 to 5 billion in investment projects have been launched within the framework of the economic plan, which requires that foreign investors enter ventures with Saudi partners. They must, thereafter, reinvest a portion of the money received by the government in Saudi Arabia. The most recent of these projects was a new petrochemicals manufacturing factory in Yanbu.
In a report published by UNCAD in the 2000 World Investment Report, foreign direct income (FDI) in 1999 in the kingdom was valued at $4.8 billion, versus $4.2 billion and $3.1 billion in the previous years. Although less than one percent of worldwide FDI enters the Middle East, Saudi Arabia receives the bulk of it, with a total of $33.4 billion in stock so far. —(MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
