Foreign investment by businesses around the world rebounded strongly last year to exceed its pre-pandemic total, but little of that U.S.-led surge went toward boosting manufacturing capacity despite the widespread shortages of goods that have helped push inflation to its highest rate in decades.
A United Nations agency on Wednesday said that businesses invested $1.65 trillion outside their home countries in 2021, a 77% increase from $929 billion in 2020, when foreign direct investment fell sharply in response to the disruptions and uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. That jump brought FDI flows back above their 2019 level of $1.5 trillion.
