Foreign direct investment

After falling for three consecutive years since their 2001 peak, inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) finally turned up last year, according to the World Investment Report by the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development. World FDI inflows amounted to $648 billion, 2% higher than a year ago. Asia led the upswing, mainly due to new greenfield investments in China and India. The region attracted inflows worth 72% more than the previous year. Not all developed countries were as fortunate. While America and Britain experienced substantial increases in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, FDI into the euro area's largest economies suffered, partly due to the large loan repayments made by foreign affiliates to their parent firms.