The outbreak and spread of Coronavirus (Covid19) will negatively affect the global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the current and next years.
The rate of decline may be minimum 5.0 per cent to maximum 15.0 per cent in 2020, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The UN body unveiled its special issue on its Investment Trends Monitor on Monday in Geneva focusing the impact of coronavirus outbreak on global FDI.
“With scenarios of the spread of the epidemic ranging from short-term stabilisation to continuation throughout the year, the downward pressure on FDI will be -5.0 per cent to -15 per cent (compared to previous forecasts projecting marginal growth in the FDI trend for 2020-2021),” said the report.
The earlier issue of global Investment Trends Monitor, released in January this year, projected that global FDI would increased by 5.0 per cent in the current year.
It also said that global FDI remained flat in 2019, at US$1.39 trillion which was $1.41 trillion in 2018.
Bangladesh Bank nine-month data on inflow of FDI showed that net inflow of FDI in the country declined to $2.15 billion in January-September period of 2019.
Again, net FDI in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year (FY20) stood at $1.69 billion, recording around 4.0 per cent growth over the same period of the past fiscal year.
Statistics available with balance of payments (BoP), however, showed that net inflow of FDI stood at $2.50 billion in 2019.
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