Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are forecast to decrease by up to 40 percent in 2020, and further by 5 to 10 percent in 2021, before recovering in 2022, said a United Nations report. According to World Investment Report 2020 drawn by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), FDI flows this year would stay below 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 15 years. Although the impact is severe everywhere, developing economies are projected to see the biggest fall in FDI, said James Zhan, UNCTAD's director of investment and enterprise, as developing economies rely more on investment in global-value-chain-intensive and extractive industries which have been severely hit, and are unable to carry out the same economic support measures as developed economies.
