Egypt’s FDI inflows fell by 13.7% y-o-y to USD 9.8 bn in 2023, on the back of a particularly big year for M&As the year previous with “abnormally high project values,” according to the UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) latest World Investment Report (pdf) and its regional trends breakdown (pdf).

FDI outflows increased 14% y-o-y, coming in at USD 390 mn in 2023, the report says.

The continent as a whole: FDI inflows into Africa were down 3% y-o-y in 2023, coming in at USD 53 bn. The report pointed to reduced inflows into Egypt and South Africa as the reason behind the overall trend due to the two countries making up a substantial part of the continent's net inflows. Closer to home still, FDI inflows across North Africa were down 12% throughout the year.

How did others in the region do last year?

  • KSA saw FDI inflows into fall 56% y-o-y to USD 12.3 bn in 2023, while outflows fell 40% to USD 16.1 bn in 2023;
  • The UAE saw its inflows grow 35% y-o-y to USD 30.7 bn, while its outflows fell 10% to USD 22.3 bn;
  • Inflows for Bahrain grew 2.5x y-o-y to USD 6.8 bn, outflows were down 42.9% to USD 1.1 bn;
  • Kuwait’s inflows almost tripled y-o-y to USD 2.1 bn, as its outflows fell 54.5% to USD 11.2 bn;
  • Morocco’s inflows decreased 51.5% y-o-y to USD 1.1 bn, while outflows increased 30.4% y-o-y to USD 836 mn;
  • Qatar recorded negative inflows of USD 474 mn from inflows of USD 76 mn a year earlier. Meanwhile, it recorded negative outflows of USD 191 mn.

A look at Asia: While FDI flows to developing Asia fell 4.7% y-o-y to USD 621 bn in 2023, it remained the largest recipient of FDI globally accounting for 50% of total global inflows. FDI inflows to West Asia — which includes Saudi, UAE and Turkey — fell 9% y-o-y during the period on the back of lower M&A sales. However, the region saw more greenfield projects and international project finance agreements last year in comparison with others in Asia. The number of international project agreements in the region nearly doubled to 94 in 2023 at a value of USD 57 bn.

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