In 2021, FDI across the Atlantic increased by 11.3% compared to 2020, driving China to third place, indicates the IMF.
The United States was the world’s leading destination in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2021, overtaking China, demoted to third place, according to a note published Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Over one year, FDI across the Atlantic increased by 11.3% (+506 billion dollars) compared to 2020, to reach a total of 4,977 billion dollars, placing the United States far ahead of the Netherlands ( $4,331 billion) and China excluding Hong Kong ($3,578 billion), which slipped to third place.
By adding Hong Kong, the Middle Kingdom remains in first place, however, with a total of 6,891 billion dollars.
These data come from the annual FDI survey conducted by the IMF, gathering data from 112 countries.
At the global level, FDI increased by 7.1%, if we take into account the increases in each national currency. The increase is only 2.3% reported in dollars, due to the strengthening of the greenback on the foreign exchange market.
The survey also highlights the presence of several small countries in the TOP 10, including Luxembourg, Singapore, Ireland and Hong Kong.
“The apparent disconnect between FDI data and the real economy stems from the fact that FDI is above all financial statistics, which also take into account financial flows between entities having the same owner, direct or indirect”, explained the authors of the note, Jannick Damgaard and Carlos Sanchez-Munoz.
FDI include in particular the flow of funds passing through a country before reaching their final destination, “often for tax or regulatory reasons”, thus being able to “considerably inflate” FDI within the economy concerned.
The study carried out thus highlights the importance of offshore financial centers and their consequences in terms of FDI, “which have increased sharply in the years following the 2008 financial crisis”, even if their share is significantly down. over the past five years.