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Global foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged by 49 percent in the first half of 2020 from the same period a year ago, but China remained resilient, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Global FDI fell to $399 billion in the first six months, and is on course to fall as much as 40 percent for the year, driven by fears of a deep recession, the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report.
Among major FDI recipients in 2019, flows declined most strongly in Italy, the United States, Brazil and Australia.
"Global FDI flows for the first half of this year went down by close to half... It was more drastic than we expected for the whole year," James Zhan, director of UNCTAD's investment and enterprise division, said during a news conference.
China was bucking the trend, Zhan said.
"Their FDI flows remain relatively stable. For the first half of the year the decline was really modest and in fact according to the latest data, for the first nine months altogether this year FDI into China increased by
2.5 percent
," he said.
Zhang said the reason was partly due to China being one of the very few countries, among the first, to control the pandemic and to put production back on track.
"In the meantime the Chinese government put in place effective measures to retain investment, to service operations of the multinationals operating in the country, and also put in place new measures to attract investment," he added.
Most FDI investment in China was in electronic commerce services, specialized technology services, and research and development, Zhan elaborated.
FDI flows to European economies turned negative for the first time ever, falling to -$7 billion from $202 billion. Flows to the United States fell by 61 percent to $51 billion, it said.
The figures cover cross-border mergers and acquisitions, new greenfield investment projects and project finance deals.
Industrialized countries, which normally account for some 80 percent of global transactions, were hardest hit, with flows falling to $98 billion, a level last seen in 1994, the report said.
(With input from Reuters)
