In 2022, Spain ranked 13th in the list of territories receiving foreign investment and rose 6 places compared to the 19th position it had occupied the previous year. According to the latest report on global investment published this Wednesday by the United Nations Agency on Trade and Developmento (UNCTAD), Spain gained market share in attracting foreign investment in 2022, as it grew by 58.5%, to 34,811 million dollars, while worldwide this flow fell by 12.4% (to around 1.3 trillion dollars). By 2023, the UN agency expects that “the downward pressure” of foreign direct investment will continue worldwide.
In 2022, the territories that attracted the greatest volume of foreign investment were those of USA (285,057 million), China (189.132 million), Singapore (141,211 million) and Hong Kong (117,725 million). They were followed, on the list, Brazil, Australia, Canada, India, Sweden, British Virgin Islands, France (36,413 million), Mexico (35,291 million) and Spain (34,811.1 million dollars). Thus, in 2022, Spain managed to pass ahead of countries like Korea, Japan, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Poland, Russia, Germany or South Africa, which in 2021 had achieved more foreign investment than the Spanish economy. In fact, in 2022, Germany it barely attracted 11,053 million dollars of foreign investment (four times less than the previous year) and Russia it suffered an outflow of 18,681 million in the year of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine (after having received more than 38,000 million in 2021).
Infrastructures and energy
According to the UNCTAD report, after a sharp drop in 2020 and a strong rebound in 2021, global foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased by 12.4% in 2022, to $1.3 trillion. The slowdown was driven by the global polycrisis: the war in Ukrainethe high prices of food and energyand the pressures of the debt. The financing of international projects and cross-border mergers and acquisitions were particularly affected by the tightening of financing conditions, the rise in interest rates and uncertainty in the capital markets.
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In addition, from the sectoral point of view, the document shows an increase in the number of projects in infrastructures and industrieswhich are facing pressure to restructure the supply chainas electronics, automotive and machinery. Three of the five largest investment projects were announced in semiconductors, in response to the global shortage of microprocessors. Investment in the sectors of the digital economy It slowed down after the boom experiencing in 2020 and 2021.
The figures for projects investment in energy they remained stable, dispelling, for now, fears of a change in the downward trend observed in investment in fossil fuels, due to the energy crisis. international investment in renewable energy has nearly tripled since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. However, much of this growth has been concentrated in the developed countries. “More than 30 developing countries have yet to register a single international renewable energy investment project of utility scale,” according to the UNCTAD report.