The United Arab Emirates must find ways to attract investors to industries other than petroleum and minerals- which now have 60 percent of the total investment, a banking official said Thursday.
Mohammed Abdel-Bakey, director of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Industrial Bank said government should also allow foreign capital to be invested in UAE industrial projects.
"Foreign investment will help in the variation of the investments and should be used," Abdel-Bakey told the UAE al-Bayan newspaper.
Abdel-Bakey said that in spite of an increase in the volume of investment in the past few years, investors have concentrated on the petroleum and minerals sector. He said investment reached Dh12 billion ($5.7 billion).
The UAE Industrial Bank is the financer of various industrial projects. Abdel-Bakey said the bank expects to finance 25-30 industrial projects until the end of the year at a sum of Dh170-200 million ($54million).
So far, the bank has financed eight projects worth Dh39 million ($10.5 million) this year. Only one was in the petroleum field.
During the first half of the year, the bank focused its financing on non-petroleum projects like food, beverages, cloths and construction, Abdul-Bakey said.— (Albawaba-MEBG)
