Global Investment Plunges as Trade Disputes Take Toll
A recent article in the Financial Times highlights that global foreign direct investment contracted sharply in the first half of this year as trade tensions between the US, Europe and China weighed on the world economy.
The flows fell by a fifth in the first six months of 2019 compared with the second half of the previous year, to $572bn, according to data from the OECD. The drop was particularly concentrated in the second quarter, when flows contracted by 42 per cent.
FDI flows into the US dropped by more than a quarter from the latter half of 2018 to the first half of 2019, to $151bn, while flows into the EU dropped by 62 per cent to $107bn. By contrast, flows to China increased by 5 per cent to $82bn.
