Global foreign direct investment is expected to rebound in 2015 after falling 16 percent last year due to a fragile world economy and political and military crises, the UN said Wednesday. FDI flows world-wide dropped to $1.23 trillion (about 1.1 trillion euros) in 2014, largely due to shaky investor confidence, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its annual report.
The past year saw an unprecedented rise in conflicts, according to the UN, including the Ukraine conflict which pitted Russia against the West in the worst post-Cold War stand-off. But flows to developing nations reached their highest level at $681 billion - a two percent rise, the World Investment Report 2015 said.
China, the world's second biggest economy, drew a total of $129.6 billion of FDI in 2014, it said. "I think foreign direct investment will continue to grow steadily," Shen Danyang, ministry spokesman, said recently. Asia drew a total of $465 billion in FDI, the report said. The biggest recipients of overseas investment after China were Hong Kong at $103 billion, the United States at $92 billion, followed by Britain, Singapore, Brazil, Canada, Australia, India and the Netherlands. The report however forecast an 11 percent rise in FDI this year to $1.4 trillion, spurred by higher investments by multinational organisations.