Foreign direct investment growing, though unevenly – DW

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - 23:12 (EEST) Section: Latest news

Foreign direct investment has increased worldwide to its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, the Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.
However, the United Nations trade body, UNCTAD, warns that does not necessarily translate to sustainable development, DW wrote.
The finding came from UNCTAD`s 2016 World Investment Report, which tracked both global flows and policy trends of foreign direct investment (FDI), then comparing them with the UN`s Sustainable Development Goals.
In this regard, the UN expressed concern. ”This growth did not translate into an equivalent expansion in productive capacity in all countries,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon wrote in an introductory letter, according to DW.
Developed economies received 55% of global FDI last year, up from 41% of the share in 2014. FDI nearly quadrupled in the U.S., where it had reached record lows in 2014. For its part, Europe ranked as the region where most FDI originated, according to the report.
Asia as a region received the world`s largest amount of direct investments, while FDI in Latin America and Africa – particularly sub-Saharan Africa – ”faltered,” DW wrote.
UNCTAD promotes a more transparent, efficient and predictable global investing regime. In the report, it cited an overall trend towards the liberalization of investment regulations, though pointed to the persistence of diverse national restrictions, as noted in the report.
Furthermore, UNCTAD expects FDI to drop by a tenth in 2016 due to a struggling global economy, though it believes such investment will trend upwards in the longer-term.