China overtakes US as top FDI destination

According to United Nations data, China has overtaken the United States as the world’s top destination for new foreign direct investment(FDI) in 2020.

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The United States which was the No-1 destination for foreign direct investment saw the FDI inflow plummet 49 per cent, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) figures showed amid the coronavirus pandemic which ravaged the US economy last year.

On the other hand, foreign direct investment in China climbed 4 per cent even the COVID-19 pandemic began in Wuhan last year and spread rapidly throughout the world thereafter.

China attracted $163billion in FDI in 2020 compared to $134bn attracted by the US, UNCTAD informed. The figures were in stark contrast to 2019 when China received $140 billion FDI with the US getting $ 251 billion.

Industrial production in China had grown 2.8 per cent on-year last year and in the last quarter of the year in 2020, the country had recorded 6.5 per cent growth on-year with exports growing as well in December last year.

In fact, China has been one of the few big economies which showed growth last year with its GDP growing 2.3 per cent.

UNCTAD in its report asserted that overall, global foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped dramatically in 2020 falling by 42 per cent with the UK recording a fall of over 100 per cent in FDI in 2020 from $45 billion in 2019 to -$1.3 billion in 2020.