Developing countries including territories in Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to find the pace of their post COVID-19 recovery significantly compromised notwithstanding the fact that during 2020, a full calendar year of the pandemic, they attracted a record share of global foreign direct investment, according to Investment Trends Monitor published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at the end of January this year.
UNCTAD’s revelations are attributed to what the report says was a “significant” fall in investment in the infrastructure and productive sectors in developing countries, a circumstance which it says, has weakened their COVID-19 recovery prospects.
The report blames the circumstance on what it says was a steep decline in international project financing targeting named regions including Latin America and the Caribbean. This, notwithstanding the fact that overall foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries showed relative resilience during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, falling by just 12 per cent in 2020 compared with the staggering 69 per cent collapse recorded by richer economies.