UNCTAD:Worldwide FDI in 2013 is estimated at US$1.45t

BANGKOK, June 27 (TNA) - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that worldwide foreign direct investment (FDI) should stand at 1.45 trillion US dollars this year, compared with the amount of 1.35 trillion US dollars last year. Wacharas Leelawat, Deputy Executive Director of the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), on Thursday quoted the UNCTAD's FDI report for 2013 as saying that the estimated worldwide FDI figure in 2013 should drop by 18 per cent from that in 2011. Wacharas acknowledged the UNCTAD report indicated that developing countries alone attracted 52 per cent of worldwide FDI last year, when it was also the first time in history for their FDI to outnumber that in developed countries. According to the UNCTAD report, FDI in developing countries declined by 4 per cent in 2011 but a fall in FDI in developed countries was as high as at 32 per cent due to economic problems in Europe, the United States and Japan. The UNCTAD report pointed out FDI in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), however, rose by 2 per cent in the same period, as such new member countries as Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar attracted international investors in their industries which require skilled labor, namely garment and textile, for their cheap wages. For Thailand alone, FDI increased by 10.6 per cent in the same period, mostly coming from Japan for the production of automobiles and electrical appliances, while the overseas investment of Thai business operators soared by 44.9 per cent to 11 billion US dollars, from 8 billion US dollars in 2011, mostly for the production in light industries, including food, agriculture and textile in Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. The UNCTAD has also projected that worldwide FDI should increase to 1.6 trillion US dollars in 2014 and to 1.8 trillion US dollars in 2015, thanks to the recovering US economy. The UNCTAD has, meanwhile, recommended developing countries to improve their labor capabilities and production technologies to further boost their products' values in the coming years. (TNA)