Brazil jumped last year to the fifth place among major destinations of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to the World Investment Report 2011 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Brazil was previously in the fifteenth position.

FDI in Brazil grew from US$ 25.9 billion in 2009 to US$ 48.4 billion. Only the US (US$ 228.2 billion), China (US$ 105.7 billion), Hong Kong (US$ 68.9 billion) and Belgium (US$ 61.7 billion) received more foreign investments.

UNCTAD expects Brazil to climb another position by 2013. The report pointed to Brazil as one of the most quoted investment destinations, behind China, the US and India. The UNCTAD report also shows that global flows of FDI around the world grew 5% last year over 2009, reaching US$ 1.24 trillion.

For the first time in history, foreign direct investment flows to developing economies exceeded the investment flows to developed economies. Of the total US$ 1.24 trillion, more than half (51.3%) was allocated to developing economies, especially China. The participation of Latin America also increased: from 10.5% in 2009 to 12.8% last year. The share of Europe fell from 34% in 2009 to 23.7% last year. 

Investment outflows from developing economies grew by 21% in 2010 and accounted for 29% of total global flows of foreign investment. Last year, Brazil was responsible for 0.9% of the total. According to UNCTAD, if this trend keeps the pace, developing countries will overtake the developed economies as an FDI source by 2017. 

 

Source:
UNCTAD