The Global foreign direct investment (FDI) reached a new nadir in the second half of 2009, then had a modest recovery in the first part of this year, which raised optimism about prospects for FDI out annual survey of global trends in investments of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Recovery appears to gaining strength as global FDI is expected to surpass 1.2 trillion. dollars in 2010 to reach 1.3 to 1.5 trillion. dollars in 2011 and to near 1.6 to 2 trillion. in 2012, however, these perspectives on foreign direct investment are filled with risks and uncertainties, including that global economic recovery seems fragile at this point. For 2009, the conference reported nearly 40% decline in global FDI. Some major changes in trends in global FDI preceded global crisis and is likely to escalate in the short and medium term, the report provides. The relative importance of developed economies and transition economies as destinations and sources of global FDI is expected to continue to increase. Although FDI inflows to developed economies and economies in transition decreased by 27% in 2009 and outflows of FDI from these two groups of economies have shrugged by 21%, they are still made almost half of the inflows of foreign direct investment in 2009 , and have provided a quarter of global FDI outward.
The trend of further contraction in manufacturing FDI in comparison with those in the service sector and primary sectors most likely to continue. Because of cross-border mergers and acquisitions manufacturing sector was most affected in 2009, showing a decline of 77% compared to 2008 contraction in the primary sector and service sector was slightly more pronounced as a whole, 47% and 57% respectively. While some industries in these sectors were affected – the value of transactions in the financial sector, for example, fell sharply by 87%. Large emerging markets continued to perform well. Although the U.S. remained the main recipient of FDI in 2009, China is second. Half of the six major destinations for foreign investment are now developing economies or economies in transition to gain positions and as important sources of global FDI flows. Transnational corporations from developing economies are more optimistic than corporations in developed countries and they expect that their foreign investment will recover more quickly, says the report. In addition, global investors have shown increasing interest in developing economies, especially in South, East and Southeast Asia. Parties that are particularly attractive investment points are Brazil, Russia, India and China.