Mubasher: The automotive sector in Arab countries attracted 184 foreign projects with Capex crossing $25 billion over 22 years, according to the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman).
The projects further provided more than 102,000 jobs from January 2003 to October 2024.
Dhaman said that five Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Morocco, and Algeria, drew 145 foreign projects with a share of 79% of the total, with Capex of more than $22 billion representing 89%. These projects created more than 91,000 jobs with a share of 89% of the total.
China, meanwhile, ranked first as the most important investor in the Arab region with 27 projects between 2003 and 2024 with capex nearly $8 billion and creating roughly 20,000 jobs.
It indicated that the top 10 companies held around 41% of new projects implemented, 67% of the Capex and 58% of new jobs.
Japan’s Nissan topped the list with 18 projects or roughly 10% of the total.
China’s Human Horizon came first as the largest investor in the estimated Capex with a value of $5.6 billion.
The French Renault ranked first in terms of the number of new jobs with 15,000 jobs, making up 15% of the total.
The report expected a hike of more than 5% in vehicle sales in the Arab region (16 countries) to exceed 2.3 million vehicles by the end of 2024, or 2.4% of the global total amid a likely hike to about 3 million vehicles by 2028.
It also pointed out a large geographical concentration of sales in a limited number of countries, where five countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria, Morocco, and Kuwait, had around 75% of overall vehicle sales in the region by the end of 2024.
The report also indicated that Arab countries’ foreign trade in road vehicles and their components shot up by about 23% to over $126 billion in 2023, as a result of the hike in the value of exports by around 29% to $29 billion (supported by the growth in the re-export activity of vehicles, cars and their components, which accounted for $14 billion in the GCC countries alone in 2023). This is in addition to imports by roughly 21% to $97 billion, with around 82% of the total trade concentrated in five Arab countries: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, and Kuwait, with a total value of $103 billion.
It added that the top nine exporting countries to the region during 2023 held roughly 75% of the total Arab imports of road vehicles and their components with a value of nearly $73 billion.
Japan topped the list as the largest exporter to the region with a value of $17 billion (more than 17% of total).
The region’s top 10 importing countries accounted for 80% of the total Arab exports of vehicles and their components with a value of more than $23 billion, led by Iraq as the region’s largest importer with a value of $10 billion or 34% of the total.
Passenger vehicles came in the forefront of Arab imports of vehicles and their components during 2023, with a value of more than $63 billion representing more than 65% of overall imports, while vehicle parts and accessories came second with a value of $14 billion, making up 14% of the total.
