Lebanese Ministry of Information
Head of IDAL Nabil Itani said Tuesday that Lebanon was the only country in the region which recorded a positive growth in foreign direct investments in 2016 despite the political vacuum at that time. He projected that FDI is to grow by 15 percent in 2017.“We were the only country in the region to record a positive growth in FDI in 2016 although we did not have a president at that time. We hope to achieve a growth of 15 to 16 percent in 2017 thanks to the positive political climate, election of a president and security stability,” Itani told The Daily Star.
According to a report by IDAL, the west Asia region witnessed a drop in foreign direct investments in 2016 as a result of conflicts in certain parts of the region coupled with a drop in oil prices and a resulting fiscal tightening by GCC governments.
“Despite this Lebanon was one of the few countries who has succeeded in registering positive foreign investment flows, with FDI inflows increasing by 6 percent to reach $2.56 billion along with an increase in FDI stocks by 4.4 percent reaching $61 billion,” the report explained.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 2017 report said that “Lebanon stands out as a strong performer in attracting FDI in western Asia.”
The report said that in relative terms, when accounting for a country’s GDP relative to FDI inflows, Lebanon stands out as the top performer in the region with FDI inflows accounting for 4.94 percent of GDP.
“We hope to achieve an FDI inflow of $3.2 billion in 2017 if the positive climate in the country persisted. The Lebanese army’s campaign against the terrorist organizations near the Syrian borders has also helped boost confidence in Lebanon,” Itani stressed.
He added that most of the investments flocking to Lebanon are coming from Lebanese business communities abroad.
“We have Lebanese investors abroad who are investing in different sectors such as technology and agro food industries. This trend is growing each year,” Itani said.
He added that this was also a positive year for IDAL in terms of processing new requests for investments through the one stop shop system.
“In the first two quarters of 2017, the one stop shop at IDAL which is responsible for processing investors application, and providing them with the needed administrative and financial support, processed the applications of more than 43 investors with serious investment projects in Lebanon,” the report by IDAL said.
Itani added that the 33 Lebanese investors and 10 foreigners applied for projects through IDAL.
“In terms of the distribution of projects processed at IDAL, the ICT sector grasped the highest share, representing (28 percent) of the project type, followed by agro-industry (26 percent), industry (26 percent), tourism (16 percent) and agriculture (5 percent),” the report added.
Itani said that IDAL plans to launch several initiatives in the coming few months with special emphasis on ICT, agro food industries and tourism. He added that Prime Minister Saad Hariri will personally sponsor a program for the development of areas outside the capital.
“One of the projects is the creation of a media city in Kesrouan or North Metn. We can capitalize on the fact that Lebanon has a free press and freedom of opinion. The municipalities in these areas will try to find a suitable location for the media city, of course the government will offer all the facilities to start this project,” Itani said.
