A report issued by UNCTAD today adds that the law also abolishes capital gains tax on stock market holdings.
It also approved the partial privatization of Kuwait Airways Corporation.
The example of Kuwait praised in the report reflected a trend towards more liberal FDI-related policies in the region of West Asia. The report:
Transnational Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development said that incoming FDI rose by 16 percent to USD 90 billion. This was largely the result of a significant 57 percent rise in inflows to Saudi Arabia, which received a total of USD 38 billion for the year. According to its report those figures consolidates the country’s position as the region’s top recipient.
Other countries in the region that saw sizeable increases in inflows were Qatar with a 43 percent rise, mainly in liquefied natural gas, power and water, and telecommunications; Lebanon, with a 32 percent increase mainly driven by real estate; and a 70 percent rise in the Syrian Arab Republic, attributable to growing business opportunities resulting from that countrys increasing economic openness and improving international relations. FDI inflows rose only slightly in Bahrain, Iraq, and the Palestinian territory. Inflows maintained their 2007 level in Jordan and fell in Kuwait, Yemen and Oman.
Some funds, such as those controlled by the Government of Abu Dhabi, have already begun to make foreign acquisitions in support of their national economic development objectives. This, said the report, could contribute to an increase in FDI outflows from the region in 2009.
