Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Establishes an Investment Promotion Authority

02 Aug 2022

On 2 August 2022, the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia approved the establishment of the Saudi Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA), which will work to attract national and foreign investment as part of the National Investment Strategy, a major objective of the Kingdom’s economic reform programme.

It is expected that the SIPA will collaborate with the Ministry of Investment to gather opinions and prepare proposals for laws, procedures and manuals. The new authority will help the Ministry of Investment in international cooperation and in attracting consulates and diplomatic commercial representations, facilitating investors’ access to and understanding of laws related to investment in the Kingdom.

  • UNCTAD has been collecting information on changes in national foreign direct investment (FDI) policies on an annual basis since 1992. This collection has provided input to the analysis of global and regional investment policy trends in the World Investment Report, the Investment Policy Monitors and the UNCTAD-OECD Reports on G20 Measures.

    In 2024, to further strengthen the quality of reporting, UNCTAD revised the methodology of monitoring investment policy measures. and revised the measures going back to 2012 accordingly.

    The Investment Policy Monitor provides the international investment community with country-specific, up-to-date information about the latest developments in foreign investment policies.

    Through its monitoring of investment policy changes, UNCTAD offers cutting-edge and innovative contributions to investment policy discourse, and contributes to preparing the ground for future policymaking in the interest of making foreign investment work for sustainable development.

  • The UNCTAD's Investment Policy Monitor database include official measures affecting FDI adopted by United Nations Member States. These encompass measures explicitly targeting FDI (FDI-specific), as well as general investment measures with a clear impact on foreign investment (FDI-related). The measures are either reported directly to UNCTAD by Member States through annual surveys or identified by UNCTAD researchers through publicly accessible sources (such as government websites and specialized policy databases). The classification of measures as more or less favourable is based solely on their potential impact on investors.

    Note: Measures are verified, to the fullest extent possible, by referencing government sources. The compilation of measures is not exhaustive.

    Disclaimer: the boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

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