The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), which collates official data on FDI flows, said a growth cycle in international investment, which began in 2004, was definitively over.
“In the face of a global economic recession, tighter credit conditions, falling corporate profits, and gloomy prospects and uncertainties for global economic growth, many companies have announced plans to curtail production, lay off workers, and cut capital expenditures, all of which tend to reduce FDI,” Unctad said.
The agency provisionally estimated that worldwide FDI inflows shrank 21 per cent last year. Cross-border mergers and acquisitions – traditionally a more volatile form of capital flow than “greenfield” investment – fell nearly 28 per cent.