Germany tops US as most attractive country for foreign direct investment

15 comments

1. Guess all these investors missed the memo that Germany’s economy is done for?

2. How is that even possible? USA doesnt just have a stronger economy per capita, its also nearly 5 times as big. Can someone explain to me how germany can pull more investments?

3. Video has literally no extra info besides the headline, so don’t waste your time watching.

   Also, you will save yourself from a Hungarian propaganda advertisement. Jesus wept

4. I yawn for mir context and explanation than this short article provides!

5. >Germany replaced the United States to become the top place to invest in 2023 with foreign direct investment amounting to €410 billion, latest Eurostat figures show.

   I am curious about the methodology so I decided to look into the original [report](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_direct_investment_positions_by_ultimate_counterpart&oldid=589371). The way Eurostat explains it is very confusing.

   >In 2023, for the 11 EU Member States: Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Romania, which reported inward UIE FDI positions to Eurostat, the top investors were concentrated among a relatively small number of developed countries. As shown in Figure 1, the top UIE was Germany (12.6% of the total value of UIE FDI positions of the 11 reporting countries), followed by the United States (12.5%), France (10.9%), the United Kingdom (8.9%) and Switzerland (6.5%).

   Eurostat considers the 11 reporting EU member and then rank each member in that group by Ultimate Investing Economy (UIE). Germany is the top aof this group. However, Eurostat then includes the US and placed it second. How would it know the FDI number for the US? If Germany’s number is a function of its position within the 11 reporting member, how does the US’s number make sense?

   The [OECD reports different numbers](https://mneguidelines.oecd.org/statistics.htm), placing the US at the top and Germany at 5th place for 2023. The UN also reports the same [number](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4052094?ln=en), which has Germany at 8th for 2023. The IMF also reports the [same](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/bop/2023/pdf/42/23-21.pdf), where Germany is 4th.

6. For what I’ve seen the largest FDI is the US, Singapore and Brazil

7. Who believes this propaganda?

8. >**Germany replaced the United States to become the top place to invest in 2023 with foreign direct investment amounting to €410 billion, latest Eurostat figures show.**

   >Slow economic growth, high inflation, rising global geopolitical tensions and soaring energy prices have made it challenging for European countries to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years.

   >In 2023, 11 EU countries received €3,263 billion in FDI – an increase since 2022, rising from €3,241 billion.

   >According to the latest Eurostat figures, Germany overtook the United States as the top ultimate investing economy, essentially accumulating the most foreign direct investment, receiving €410 billion. This represents 12.6% of the over €3 billion total for 2023.

   >An ultimate investing country is a nation that has final control over the investment – rather than an intermediary nation.

   >The United States dropped to second place as an ultimate investing economy with €406 billion, followed by France with €356 billion, and the United Kingdom with €290 billion.

   >In terms of projects, IT services, business services, transportation and logistics were the hottest areas for FDI in 2023, according to the EY European Investment Monitor 2024. 

   >”The flow of FDI into Europe has more undercurrents than ever before,” stated Marc Lhermitte from EY Global Lead FDI & Attractiveness. “In addition to traditional drivers of investment, foreign businesses are expanding operations in Europe to reshore supply chains, create efficiencies and accelerate innovation.”

   >Investors claim that the main risks affecting Europe’s attractiveness over the next three years will be finding a regulatory balance between protection and innovation and maintaining manufacturing competitiveness. 

   >If this is not found, the US, China and other Asian countries will continue to outflank Europe in terms of FDI. 

9. I assume this is the source for the data shown in the article: [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_direct_investment_positions_by_ultimate_counterpart](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_direct_investment_positions_by_ultimate_counterpart) . It is apparently an official EU organization/website.

   However, I don’t really understand how the data is collected and how this gives a comprehensive view of all foreign direct investments. It is unclear to me if the data is complete. For certain, it is not complete on a global scale, as a lot of countries are missing. Concerning the value attributed to the US, I slightly doubt the completeness referring to the following, listed under Data sources on the website linked above:

   >… .The main types of sources used are direct surveys addressed to resident statistical units and reports by the central banking systems on international transactions. The 11 EU Member States: Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Romania, reported inward UIE FDI positions to Eurostat on a voluntary basis for the reference year 2023.

   and under Context:

   >… ,the UIE FDI positions statistics are currently provided by 15 countries on voluntary basis (including Norway, Türkiye, and three additional EU Member States: Cyprus, Germany and Hungary that provided data up to reference year 2022).

   The german institute for economy reports a different number for FDI in Germany [https://www.iwkoeln.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/christian-rusche-hohe-abfluesse-deuten-auf-deindustrialisierung-hin.html](https://www.iwkoeln.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/christian-rusche-hohe-abfluesse-deuten-auf-deindustrialisierung-hin.html), citing a number of 22 Billion € compared to the 410 Billion € from the original article.

   Germany Trade and Invest (a federally owned company) [https://www.gtai.de/en/meta/press/germany-records-big-rise-in-foreign-direct-investment-in-2023-1770786](https://www.gtai.de/en/meta/press/germany-records-big-rise-in-foreign-direct-investment-in-2023-1770786) reports also a different number of 35 Billion €.

   All in all, I think this shows that we lack transparency in finances, or in other words, It shows how limited our current tools for measuring finances actually are.

10. Huh, even despite heavy taxes and relatively weak economy?

11. Was all the investment in Munich’s housing market?

12. Remember in the EU FDI literally means next door.

13. Nice try Germany, no one else thinks that

14. and our economy is still in recession

15. This must be a sick joke. If you’ve lived and worked in Germany, you’d know the opposite is true

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