Dubai ranked world's first for greenfield FDI projects, beating London and New York

Dubai remained the world's top destination for greenfield foreign direct investment projects in the first half of 2024, despite challenging global economic conditions, a study has shown.

The emirate topped major financial centres such as London, Singapore and New York across a range of sectors, including tourism, real estate, artificial intelligence, headquarters, logistics and FinTech.

The emirate attracted 508 greenfield FDI projects during the January-June period, representing a 6.2 per cent global share, growing from 5.7 per cent in the same period last year, Dubai Media Office said on Thursday, quoting data from the Financial Times fDi Markets report.

A greenfield investment is a type of FDI in which a parent company creates a subsidiary in a different country, building its operations from the ground up.

“Since 2021, Dubai has consistently maintained its top position in attracting foreign investment for six consecutive half-year periods … this achievement showcases the investors' trust in Dubai's capacity to foster an environment conducive to innovation and sustainable growth,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai., Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and chairman of the Executive Council.

Sheikh Hamdan emphasised the importance of attracting more investments to fuel the growth of a sustainable, diversified economy, in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Dubai's D33 strategy aims to double the size of its economy to Dh32 trillion ($8.71 trillion) over the next decade and establish the emirate among the top three global cities.

The plan aims to support 30 private companies to achieve unicorn status, or to be worth more than $1 billion.

It also aims to make Dubai a global digital economy leader, the fastest-growing and most attractive global business centre, a centre for sustainability and economic diversification, and an incubator and enabler of talented Emiratis.

Dubai jumped three spots globally from sixth to third place for attracting greenfield FDI capital in the first half, and from third to first in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, compared to the same period last year.

A total of 801 FDI projects valued at Dh21.85 billion were announced in Dubai, compared to Dh20.30 billion across 803 projects in the first half of 2023, according to Dubai FDI Monitor data. This includes greenfield FDI, new forms of investments, mergers and acquisitions, reinvestments, venture capital-backed FDI and greenfield joint ventures.

Top five sectors accounted for 57.4 per cent of total estimated FDI capital flows into Dubai and 68.6 per cent of total announced FDI projects, according to FDI Monitor data. In terms of FDI capital, the leading sectors were building and materials (17.3 per cent), software and IT services (14.3 per cent), hotels and tourism (10.2 per cent), real estate (9.5 per cent) and automotive original equipment manufacturers (6.1 per cent).