China, United States, India, and Luxembourg were the nations attracting the most foreign direct investment in pandemic-hit 2020, even as global FDI flows ebbed to a 15-year low last year, news agency Reuters reported on April 30, quoting data by multilateral institution Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
"As the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the global economy, global FDI flows dropped 38 per cent in 2020 to $846 billion, the lowest level since 2005," Reuters reported.
China overtook the US as the leading destination for foreign investment while large parts of the world's biggest economy were shut down due to the pandemic, the Reuters report said.
India and Luxembourg, where many shell companies are legally registered, followed as top destinations for inflows, the report quoted OECD as saying.
"The agency said that this represented only 1% of global gross domestic product, a level not seen since 1999," the news report stated.
A recovery in cross-border mergers and acquisitions activity in the latter part of 2020 and so far this year could fuel a rebound in FDI in 2021, Reuters quoted OECD as saying.
In January, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development had said that India's FDI inflows had jumped 13 per cent to $57 billion in the calendar year 2020, mostly boosted by investment in the digital economy and start-ups.
