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UNCTAD: U.S. Still Leads as Foreign Investment Destination, But Developing Nations Booming

01/28/2011
For the first time since record-keeping began in the 1970s, developing nations attracted more than half of all foreign investment in 2010, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Businesses invested a total of more than $1.2 trillion internationally, a slight increase from the more than $1.1 trillion they invested in 2009.

Developing nations captured 53 percent of that $1.2 trillion. East Asia and Latin America saw inflows rise significantly. Foreign investment in China reached more than $100 billion, the highest level since record-keeping began. Foreign investment into Hong Kong shot up nearly 30 percent to $62.6 billion.

Foreign investment into Latin America increased by about a fifth. Foreign investment in the United States improved notably, rising more than 43 percent to more than $186 billion. The world's largest economy, it retained is position as the most desirable location for foreign investment.

But the debt crisis in Europe took a toll on those nations' ability to attract foreign dollars. Foreign investment dropped nearly a fifth in the European Union, mostly centered around the nations that use the euro.

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