SCBC Team – Riyadh
China ranked first in the world in attracting foreign direct investment during the past year 2020, by being able to attract foreign investments estimated at $163 billion, outperforming the United States of America, which attracted 134 billion dollars in the same year.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), foreign investment in China increased by 4% in 2020 from the previous year, making it the first in the world, while foreign investment in the United States decreased by 49% during the same period, to come in the order. Second after China.
The data of the World Conference showed that foreign direct investment flows to the European Union decreased by 71% during the year 2020, affected by the (Covid-19) epidemic, and Britain and Italy, which witnessed a high death rate due to the epidemic, did not attract any new foreign direct investment during the past year. Germany, which has performed slightly better in the face of the pandemic, saw a decline in foreign direct investment by as much as 61% during the same year.
The data of the “UNCTAD” conference also indicated that foreign direct investment in developing countries decreased by 12%, while East Asia succeeded in attracting a third of foreign direct investment in the world during the past year, the largest share since the eighties of the last century, while foreign direct investment increased In India over the past year increased by 13%, mainly driven by increased demand for digital services.