## Foreign Direct Investment Increased to a Record $41 Trillion

_IMF Blog, February 20, 2025_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Topias Leino, Maja Gavrilovic
- Published: February 20, 2025

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### Major findings
- 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.

### Regional and country highlights
- 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.

### Data source and context
- 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.*

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## References

- [Coordinated Direct Investment Survey](https://www.imf.org/Data)
- [new data portal](https://betadata.imf.org/)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2025/02/20/foreign-direct-investment-increased-to-a-record-41-trillion_