China has overtaken the United States in attracting foreign direct investment, becoming the absolute leader in this indicator. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to the report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The Chinese economy turned out to be more attractive to investors than the American one.
In 2020, direct investments of foreign companies in the economy of the PRC increased by four percent (to $ 163 billion), while in the United States, they fell by 49 percent (to $ 134 billion). Many companies have expanded their presence in China (for example, the sportswear brand Adidas and the American electronic control systems manufacturer Honeywell International).
The world’s largest retailer Walmart is set to invest $ 460 million in Wuhan over the next five years, while Tesla is expanding its production in Shanghai. East Asia attracted a third of all foreign investment, which turned out to be the best indicator on record (that is, since the 1980s). At the same time, the European Union showed a drop in the indicator by 71 percent, and Russia – by 96 percent (from 32 to 1.1 billion dollars).
Earlier it became known that despite the coronavirus pandemic, the fortune of the 400 richest Chinese people grew by $ 820 billion (64 percent), and the fortune of Americans – by 240 billion. As a result, the total capital of the richest residents of the PRC has become equal to 2.11 trillion dollars. China could soon overtake the United States and become the top billionaire country, Forbes notes.