Financial news
Written by: Wen Haozong
2020-01-21 10:38
Last updated: 2020-01-21 10:38A series of demonstrations arising from the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance caused a heavy blow to our economy in the second half of last year. United Nations statistics show that due to political turmoil and the Sino-US trade war, foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into Hong Kong last year decreased by nearly half to 55 billion yuan (US $ ‧ same below).
Global foreign direct investment fell 1% last year
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report yesterday (20th) that last year, global FDI fell slightly by 1% year-on-year to 1.39 trillion yuan, mainly dragged down by the cooling investment climate in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Among them, Hong Kong's FDI fell sharply by 48%, while the UK, which had been overshadowed by Brexit, also fell by 6%. "Reuters" quoted Zhan Xiaoning, director of the Division of Investment and Enterprise of UNCTAD, as saying that last year, 48 billion yuan (approximately HK $ 373.4 billion) was withdrawn from the Hong Kong stock market, and that Hong Kong was also affected by the Sino-US trade war and Shanghai-Shenzhen competition. The environment is under pressure.
According to the report, the United States continued to be the world ’s largest inward FDI inflow last year, with FDI reaching 251 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 1% year-on-year; China continued to maintain its second largest FDI inflow country, absorbing approximately 140 billion yuan, which was also roughly flat year-on-year. The report predicts that with the moderate growth of the global economy this year, global FDI will rise slightly during the year, but geopolitical risks and protectionist concerns will still affect the economic outlook.
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