Taiwan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) moved into positive territory last year, while global FDI fell 18 percent, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The Global Investment Trends Monitor report, published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), did not specify the value of FDI flow in Taiwan last year, but a UNCTAD representative said it was about US$3.9 billion.
The figure was a dramatic improvement from 2011, when Taiwan’s outflow of FDI exceeded its inflow by US$1.96 billion, according to UNCTAD statistics.
Global FDI dropped 18 percent to an estimated US$1.3 trillion due mainly to macroeconomic fragility and policy uncertainty, the report said.
In Asia, almost all the major economies recorded positive FDI figures, despite a decline in inflows.
Hong Kong’s FDP fell 24.6 percent to US$72.5 billion last year, South Korea’s dropped 11.9 percent to US$9 billion and Singapore’s dipped 15.1 percent to US$54.4 billion.
Meanwhile, China recorded an FDI of US$119.7 billion, second only to the US’ US$146.7 billion, which was down by US$80 billion, the report said.
Japan’s struggling economy remained in negative territory, with an FDI deficit of US$400 million last year, which nonetheless was a slight improvement from minus-US$1.8 billion in 2011.
Most EU countries saw significant drops in FDI flows, with the total falling by about US$150 billion. In contrast, FDI flows to developing economies, for the first time ever, exceeded those to developed economies by about US$130 billion, the report said.
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