Global foreign direct investment has fallen to its lowest level since the financial crisis as richer countries lead the world into a retreat from a “heyday of export-led growth”, according to a UN report.
The 13 per cent drop in worldwide FDI to $1.3tn in 2018 — the third straight year of falls — comes amid rising global protectionism and more US profits being repatriated after the Trump administration’s 2017 tax reform.
Investment from Chinese multinationals also fell for the second year in a row, dropping 18 per cent to $130bn, as a result of state policies to curb overseas investment, as well as growing screening of inward investment in the west.