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World Foreign Direct Investment to Exceed 1.1 Trillion Dollars in 2000
World inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) are expected to exceed US$1.1 trillion this year, up 14 percent over 1999, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
More than four fifths of this year's FDI inflows were to developed countries, the UNCTAD said. Increased flows to these countries resulted mostly from cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
Western Europe continued to be the largest FDI recipient region, receiving an estimated 597 billion dollars, but the United States remained the single largest target country in cross-border mergers and acquisitions with sales of US firms to foreign investors exceeding 300 billion dollars this year.
Total FDI inflows of 190 billion dollars to developing countries in 2000 remained at the same level as the previous year, according to the UNCTAD, but these countries' share in the world's total fell to 17 percent showing a decline since 1997.
The UNCTAD said that flows to China and Brazil, respectively the first and second largest FDI recipients among developing countries, were largely unchanged. In anticipation of China's entry into the World Trade Organization, however, approved investments in China were already on the rise, it said.
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