Investigation the Relationship between Non-oil Exports, Foreign Investment and Economic Growth in the MENA Region

An increase in production and economic growth leads to more and better opportunities for economic prosperity and enter to new scope. Exports، as one of the sources of national income can lead to the GDP growth، and foreign investment as the largest source of external finance in developing countries with positive spillover effects، provides economic growth conditions. Considering the economic monoculture and oil-export-based for countries in the MENA region، and the potential in the region to attract foreign investment، this paper investigates the relationship between non-oil exports and foreign direct investment with economic growth in the MENA region over the period 2000-2010 using GMM panel data approach. The results suggested a significant positive effect of non-oil exports and foreign direct investment on economic growth in the countries which were the focus of the study. Therefore، it is suggested that for development of non-oil exports، the structure of domestic production should be changed in such a way to provide the opportunity to enter in global markets and consider the comparative advantage as well as competitive advantage in production structure. For development of domestic production capacity، it is necessary to set conditions to attract foreign investment to overcome obstacles in attracting this kind of investment.