Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority licensed investments rise by 99% in 2018

JEDDAH: The achievements report of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) for 2018 showed a 99 percent increase in the number of licensed investments and a 100 percent increase in the number of investment expansion requests.

The report also showed that the time required for issuing a new license has been reduced to 2.5 hours, the time required for modification services has been reduced to three hours, and the investors’ general satisfaction rate has reached 94 percent.

Ibrahim Saleh Al-Suwail, deputy governor of SAGIA, highlighted the most important investment sectors in Saudi Arabia, pointing out that the networking and information technology sector had the largest number of investments in 2018 compared to 2017, with an increase of 200 percent in the number of investment projects.

He added that the professional, scientific and technical services sector has ranked second, with an increase of 155 percent in the number of investment projects, followed by the wholesale and retail trade sector, which ranked third with an increase of 103 percent, and the manufacturing sector, which ranked fourth with an increase of 74 percent.

Al-Suwail said that the rise in the number of licensed investments and the number of investment expansion requests in Saudi Arabia was the fruit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to a number of countries and capitals, which played a great role in highlighting the potential and investment opportunities in the Kingdom to achieve Vision 2030 through signing several agreements with countries that have economic experience in various fields.

“The crown prince’s visit to these countries has succeeded in establishing a new image for the Kingdom and creating a competitive environment and a serious campaign to reduce the country’s reliance on oil revenue,” he continued.

Al-Suwail pointed out that SAGIA has recently taken several steps to provide its services with reliability and ease and within a competitive time period through establishing links with several government agencies, including the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Commerce and Investment, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and Meras eServices Platform, which provides access to the e-services of more than 40 different government agencies.

Through its strategy, SAGIA seeks to align itself with Vision 2030.