The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (GIA)approved licenses for 93 projects worth $366 million in May, the Bahrain Tribune reported on Tuesday.
An official statement by the GIA was quoted by the daily as saying “90 percent of the investment capital for the proposed projects will come from outside Saudi Arabia.”
According to the paper, the are 56 industrial projects among the licenses, which will employ 2,600 people, as well as 38 unidentified projects.
As part of a drive to diversify the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy, lure foreign money and increase job opportunities for the growing number of unemployed youth, a foreign investment law was passed in April 2000 to allow foreigners full ownership of businesses.
Since April 2000, the authority has approved $8.13 billion worth of projects, 94 percent of which are to be funded by foreign investors, the statement said – Albawaba.com
