Kuwait — The UAE has topped the Arab list as the best and most attractive destination for investment and business in auto sales activity for 2024, Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) has said.
The Kuwaiti-based Dhaman organization stated in its fourth sectoral report for 2024 on the automotive industry in Arab countries that five Arab nations—Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the UAE, Algeria, and Egypt—attracted 145 foreign projects, accounting for 79 percent of the total. These projects are valued at over $22 billion, representing 89 percent of the total investment, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
These projects created more than 91,000 jobs with a share of 89 percent of the total, Dhaman said, adding that China was the most important investor in the Arab region with 27 projects worth $8 billion. The projects provided around 20,000 jobs.
The Gulf countries, led by the UAE, topped the Arab list as the best and most attractive destination for investment and business in auto sales activity for 2024, followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, respectively, it indicated.
The automotive sector in Arab countries attracted 184 foreign projects valued at more than $25 billion, providing more than 102,000 jobs from January 2003 to October 2024, Dhaman noted.
Five countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria, Morocco and Kuwait had around 75 percent of overall vehicle sales in the region by the end of 2024, according to a press release of Dhaman.
Concerning individual car sales in the region, they are likely to exceed 1.8 million cars by the end of 2024, up 4.5 percent compared to 2023, with Saudi Arabia ranking first with a share of 45 percent.