According to UN data, global foreign direct investment flows were valued at $852 billion in the first half of 2021. This reflected a partial-year growth of 78 percent when compared to 2020.
In the US, inflows were up by 90 percent, driven by a surge in cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
However, James Zhan, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s director of investment and enterprise, said that this “mask(s) the growing divergence in FDI flows between developed and developing economies.”
While FDI inflows to high-income countries leapt by a massive partial-year rate of 117 percent, low-income countries faced a 9 percent decline in inflows.
Eurozone’s construction
The euro area’s construction output fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year in August, data released by Eurostat revealed. This was driven by a 2.9 percent annual decline in civil engineering production and a 1.3 percent fall in building construction.
Construction fell the most in Spain and Romania as they saw their annual construction output slip by 13.9 percent and 7 percent respectively.
On the other hand, Hungary experienced the highest jump in yearly construction production, growing by 10.2 percent. Poland was the second highest with a 7.9 percent year-on-year rise.
On a monthly basis, the zone’s construction also declined by 1.3 percent in August when compared to July.
European trade balances
Switzerland’s trade surplus decreased to CHF4.4 billion in September down from the all-time high of CHF4.6 billion recorded in the previous month, official data showed.
Exports declined by a monthly rate of 0.2 percent in September. This was driven by a fall in exports to a number of countries. Most notably, exports to the US and Japan slumped by 22.2 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.
On the other hand, imports rose by 0.9 percent to reach its highest level in 20 months. Imports of pharmaceutical products experienced the highest increase as it grew by 5.2 percent.
Meanwhile, Spain's trade deficit steeply expanded to €3.87 billion in August from a deficit of €1.73 billion in the same month last year, according to official data.
This was the largest monthly trade deficit since September 2019 as imports leaped by 33.9 percent year-on-year to €26 billion. This was fuelled by an 11.4 percent rise in energy purchases and a 7.9 percent jump in imports of chemical products. Meanwhile, exports rose at a slower 25.1 percent growth rate to reach €22 billion.
During the first eight months of the year, Spain's trade deficit rose to €10.87 billion, from €9.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Indonesia’s interest rate on hold
Indonesia's central bank kept interest rates steady at its record low level of 3.5 percent on Monday. Rates remain low to boost economic activity, the bank said.
Bank Indonesia expects the economy to grow by 3.5-4.3 percent in 2021.
