Poor countries are investing in the third world

All developing countries try to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from developed nations. A new article from the Economist finds that developing countries are now attracting increasing amounts of FDI from each other.

According to the article:

Developing nations increased their amount of FDI from $16 billion in 2002 to $40 billion in 2004.

Currently, more than a third of total FDI going to developing countries came from other developing countries.

The Economist notes that much of the investment is meant to avoid burdensome taxes. For example, about two-thirds of Brazils $53 billion of overseas investment in 2002 was in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands. But there are many productive reasons for investing in other nations:

It allows firms to avoid trade barriers that divide many poor countries from each other.

Firms can seek out cheaper labour elsewhere even Chinas own multinationals invest in Ghana and Southeast Asia, because labour is cheaper there.

Extracting natural resources can be easier if the firm has a national presence.

The Economist also says that many third-world multinational firms do better than their first-world counterparts when investing in the developing world. Third-world multinationals are often closer to the host country, both geographically and culturally, and they tend to be better versed in the risks of investing in a country where the politics is unpredictable and the economy unstable.

Source: Globalisation with a third-world face, Economist, April 7, 2005.

For text: http://www.economist.com/finance/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=3841114

For more on Trade and Investment: http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/intdex12.html

FMF Policy Bulletin/ 31 May 2005

Publish date: 08 June 2005
Views: 405

Trade, News

The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation. This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author.

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