The UAE attracted USD 46 bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2024, up 49.8% y-o-y from USD 30.7 bn, according to UN Trade and Development’s 2025 World Investment Report (pdf). This puts the Emirates at 10th place worldwide for foreign direct investment inflows, and makes it the second largest FDI recipient in the developing world classification, trailing only Singapore. The uptick for the UAE comes amid a general downturn among developing economies.

Some 37% of all FDI inflows to the region headed to the Emirates, Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in a post on X, citing the report. More is set to follow, with the UAE ranking second globally for the number of greenfield project announcements, with 1.4k new projects, behind the US.

Sector-wise, the Emirates’ startups sector attracted a significant volume of inflows, while its construction sector took the top spot for capital inflows at USD 49 bn worth of announced agreements.

On the other side of the ledger, the UAE is spending big abroad. Emirati investors deployed USD 23 bn in outbound FDI in 2024, a 5% y-o-y rise, driven by a 46% y-o-y uptick in cross-border acquisitions. This also puts the UAE in the top 20 global sources of FDI, with Africa identified as a key destination for Emirati FDI deployment as inflows from M&A activity to Asia dipped slightly on the back of divestment or asset sales.

The usual names leading the charge for outflows: State-backed giants like Masdar, Mubadala, Al Nowais Investments, and DP World were all noted as deploying significant funds abroad. Emirati projects that got a mention included International Resources Holding’s acquisition of a USD 1.1 bn stake in Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines and Dubai World’s USD 1.2 bn commitment to port and logistics development in Senegal.

REMEMBER- The UAE has big FDI ambitions: The country aims to double its cumulative FDI to AED 1.3 tn over the next six years, and triple the cumulative FDI balance to AED 2.2 tn. The goal is to reach annual FDI flows of AED 240 bn. This will see the share of FDI in total investments increase to above 30%, while FDI will contribute 8% of total GDP.

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