China was the world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, as flows rose by 4 percent to $163 billion, followed by the United States, a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed.
The decline in FDI was concentrated in developed countries, where flows fell by 69 percent to $229 billion.
Flows to North America slumped by 46 percent to $166 billion, with cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) down by 43 percent.
The United States recorded a 49 percent drop in FDI in 2020, falling to an estimated $134 billion.
Investment in Europe also shrunk. Flows fell by two-thirds to $110 billion.
Although FDI to developing economies decreased by 12 percent to an estimated $616 billion, they accounted for 72 percent of global FDI — the highest share on record.
While developing countries in Asia performed well as a group, attracting an estimated $476 billion in FDI in 2020, flows to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) contracted by 31 percent to $107 billion.
Despite projections for the world economy to recover in 2021, UNCTAD expects FDI flows to remain weak as the pandemic persists.
China’s economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2020, with major economic targets achieving better-than-expected results, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.
The country’s annual GDP came in at 101.59 trillion yuan ($15.68 trillion) in 2020, surpassing the 100 trillion yuan threshold, the NBS said.
Output of industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan expanded by 2.8 percent year-on-year in 2020 and 7.3 percent in December.
Growth in retail sales came in at negative 3.9 percent year-on-year last year, but the growth recovered to positive 4.6 percent in December.
The country registered a 2.9-percent growth in fixed-asset investment in 2020.
The surveyed urban unemployment rate nationwide was 5.2 percent in December and 5.6 percent on average in the whole year.