Figures compiled by fDi Markets show that the cumulative amount of Lebanese Greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) in Arab countries totaled $8.7bn between 2003 and 2017. Lebanon was the seventh largest source of inter-Arab Greenfield FDI among 19 Arab countries during the covered period, behind the UAE ($164.8bn), Kuwait ($40.2bn), Bahrain ($38.8bn), Qatar ($31.2bn), Saudi Arabia ($28.1bn) and Egypt ($13.8bn). The FDI figures cover cross-border Greenfield projects that lead to the direct creation of jobs and capital investment. 

The hydrocarbon sector in Arab countries attracted $3bn in Greenfield FDI from Lebanon, or 34.7% of the total, between 2003 and 2017. The food & tobacco industries followed with $2.66bn (30.7%), then the real estate sector with $1.22bn (14.1%), the financial services industry with $1.18bn (13.6%), the information technology sector with $171.7m (2%), the telecommunications industry with $150m and the textiles sector with $146.1m (1.7% each), while other sectors attracted $126.5m, or 1.5% of the total. 

In parallel, there were 144 Lebanese Greenfield FDI projects in Arab countries between 2003 and 2017. The UAE was the destination of 30 Greenfield FDI projects from Lebanon, or 20.8% of the total, followed by Egypt with 19 projects (13.2%), Iraq with 18 projects (12.5%), Syria with 17 projects (11.8%), Jordan with 16 projects (11.1%), Saudi Arabia with 10 projects (6.9%), Qatar with seven projects (4.9%), Algeria with six projects (4.2%), Kuwait and Sudan with five projects each (3.5% each), Bahrain and Oman with four projects each (2.8% each), and Libya, Morocco and Tunisia with one project each (0.7% each). Overall, Egypt, Iraq and the UAE were the recipients of 46.5% of the number of Lebanese FDI projects in Arab countries and of 86.2% of their value.