Saudi Arabia's investment news in Q4 2020

In light of the exceptional circumstances during the year 2020 and the effects of the 'Covid-19' pandemic, the Saudi economy maintained its resilience and proved its flexibility in facing crises, and began to recover gradually during the second half of the year.

A set of indicators showed the strength of economic performance, as the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) published the foreign investor licenses for Q4 2020, where it recorded 466 registered licenses, the highest on record since data began in 2005. The figure represented a 52% rise compared to the previous quarter and a 60% increase over the same period in 2019. FDI inflows into Saudi Arabia reached almost $1.9bn in Q4, with a growth of 80% compared to the same period in 2019, and indicated an increase of nearly 20% for the entire year of 2020 ($5.5bn).

The Investment Highlights Winter 2021 report also details recent progress made across the ICT ecosystem, which plays a vital role in the Vision 2030 transformation. As part of the sector's focus, the report is opened by Saudi Arabia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Abdullah Alsawaha, followed by exclusive interviews with H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al Tamimi, Governor of Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), and Dr. Abdullah Alghamdi, President of Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA).

Other exciting exclusive interviews include Dr. Saad Alshahrani, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs and Investment Studies at MISA; Philippe Gas, CEO of Qiddiya Investment Company; and Cheng Xuan, General Manager of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Riyadh Branch.

Finally, the report lays out insights on the top investment opportunities by Invest Saudi, along with: