Costa Rica again tops list of FDI overachievers

By IDEAS

Costa Rica, North Macedonia and the UAE were the world’s best foreign direct investment (FDI) performers relative to the size of their economies in 2022. 

In the eighth edition of fDi Intelligence’s Greenfield FDI Performance Index, Costa Rica retained its position as the country that attracts the most FDI relative to its gross domestic product (GDP), thus fortifying the attractiveness of its investment proposition in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. North Macedonia and the UAE switched places from 2021, ranking second and third in 2022 respectively. 

The fDi Intelligence’s Greenfield FDI Performance Index is an annual ranking of countries based on their attractiveness to greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI).

The index is compiled by fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times, and is based on data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The index measures the following factors:

-FDI inflows: The amount of greenfield FDI received by a country in a year.

-FDI intensity: The amount of greenfield FDI received by a country relative to its GDP.

-FDI quality: The impact of greenfield FDI on a country's economy, measured by factors such as employment creation and technology transfer.

The fDi Intelligence’s Greenfield FDI Performance Index is a valuable tool for businesses and governments that are looking to attract foreign investment. The index can help businesses to identify countries that are open to foreign investment and that offer a favorable business environment.

Governments can use the index to benchmark their performance and to identify areas where they can improve their investment climate, such as political stability, economic growth, openness to trade, investment climate and intellectual property protection, as strong intellectual property protection is important for attracting foreign investment in industries.