UNCTAD Report Shows Global 2023 Drop in FDI

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries fell by 9% to $841bn in 2023, according to UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor. Developing countries in Asia felt the brunt of the decline, registering a 12% drop, while flows to Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean remained more or less stable. The decrease in FDI to developing regions last year occurred in a global context of weak investment and economic uncertainty. Although flows worldwide defied earlier expectations and grew by a marginal 3% in 2023 to an estimated $1.37tr, “the headline increase was due largely to higher values in a few European ‘conduit’ economies,” the report says. Strikingly, when these conduit economies are excluded, global FDI flows show a steep 18% decline in 2023.