Foreign investments in Arab states worth $2.2 billion

Mamoun Hassan, the head of the Arab corporation for guaranteeing investment, said the total foreign direct investments that flowed into Arab states in 1998 totaled $2.255 billion.

He also added that Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Egypt come at the top of the Arab states receiving investments, pointing out that it recorded an increase of 42% over the prior year when it amounted to $1.6 billion.

Mamoun, moreover, emphasized the importance of luring large foreign capital, and he said that he considered last year's rate of investment to be acceptable, adding that the average rate of direct investment in the Arab states amounts to only nearly $285 million annually.

He emphasized the importance of exerting efforts and ratifying legislation and legal frames to attract investment so as to increase the Arab states' share of the total investments in developing countries, which exceeded $160 billion dollars in 1998.

Hassan also stated that the process of economic reform and structural adjustment made by most of the concerned countries improved the performance of Arab economies.