Foreign investment by businesses around the world surged in the first six months of 2021 as rich economies rebounded strongly from the effects of the pandemic, but fresh bets on manufacturing fell despite widespread signs that capacity isn’t up to meeting resurgent demand.
The United Nations on Monday said businesses made new overseas investments valued at $852 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of $373 billion from the same period a year earlier. Of that total, three quarters went to rich countries as businesses responding to the prospect of a speedy recovery driven by the rapid deployment of effective Covid-19 vaccines.
