Foreign Direct Investment Increased to a Record $41 Trillion

IMF Blog, February 20, 2025

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Global inward foreign direct investment (FDI) positions climbed $1.75 trillion, or 4.4 percent, in 2023, reaching a record $41 trillion.
Direct investment between advanced economies grew by $880 billion, or 3.6 percent.
Direct investment from advanced economies to emerging market and developing economies rose by $538 billion, or 7.6 percent.

FDI rose in most regions, with Central and South Asia, Europe, and North and Central America contributing most to the global increase.
The United States extended its lead as the top destination for direct investment.
Singapore recorded the largest gain in 2023, with its inward position rising $307 billion.
The United States increased by $227 billion.
Germany increased by $164 billion.
The Netherlands and Luxembourg posted the steepest declines but remained in the top five alongside the United States, China, and the United Kingdom.
Strong growth in many emerging economies: India, Mexico, and Brazil each saw their inward direct investment positions rise by around $130 billion or about 20 percent—marking the largest combined increase for these three economies since the survey began in 2009.

The findings are based on the IMF’s annual Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS), described as the only worldwide source of bilateral FDI positions between economies.
The CDIS provides a geographic distribution of inward and outward FDI worldwide, and supports analysis of cross-border linkages and spillovers.
For more IMF data, a beta version of a redesigned, unified macroeconomic data portal is available.

Source: IMF IMFBlog article by Topias Leino and Maja Gavrilovic, February 20, 2025.