Prospects for foreign direct investment and the strategies of transnational corporations, 2004-2007

Prospects for global foreign direct investment (FDI) are expected to be positive in both the short term (2004-2005) and the medium term (2006-2007). The extent and the speed of the FDI recovery, however, will vary by region and industry. Despite the FDI recovery, competition for FDI is expected to become fierce in the years to come. Overall, the positive factors will outweigh the negative ones, although the recovery will be modest when compared to the 1999-2000 FDI boom driven by massive M&A deals.This publication brings together the results of three UNCTAD surveys and covering the whole spectrum of views on FDI prospects of IPAs, TNCs and location experts around the world. Chapters covers assessing overall FDI prospects, future trends for individual economic regions, analyses policy developments and implications and the methodology employed in the prospects assessment.A panel discussion was organized based on this study during the UNCTAD XI Conference in Saäo Paulo on 15 June 2004.