Report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: The global investment recovery is fragile and uneven

Geneva, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released the "2026 World Investment Report" on July 7, stating that global foreign direct investment (FDI) will increase by 6% year-on-year to $1.6 trillion in 2025, ending the previous two years of continuous decline, but the recovery is narrow, fragile, and uneven.

The report shows that by 2025, developed economies will attract 11% more foreign investment, while developing economies will only grow by 2%. The top 20 destination economies for foreign investment worldwide have attracted over 80% of foreign direct investment, highlighting the trend of increasing investment concentration.

This trend is particularly evident in industries related to technology, energy, and industrial policies. By 2025, strategic areas such as artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, key minerals, and energy transition technologies and services will account for 44% of global green space investment, compared to only 16% in 2020.

The report states that developing economies will attract more than half of global foreign direct investment by 2025, but growth will be moderate and uneven across regions. Among them, China continues to maintain its position as a major player in global two-way investment.

The report emphasizes that investment recovery has not been evenly transformed into development opportunities. The problem lies not only in the scale of capital flow, but also in the direction of capital flow, and whether investment helps to improve production capacity, create employment, enhance skill levels, and promote technology transfer.

The report predicts that the global investment outlook will remain grim in 2026. Factors such as trade policy uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, high financing costs, and economic fragmentation continue to exert pressure on investment decisions. Meanwhile, competition around strategic industry related projects will intensify.