According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s UNCTAD World Investment Report 2015, Hong Kong was the second largest source of FDI outflows in 2014, ahead of Mainland China and surpassed by only the United States. The United States’ new FDI outflows amounted to US$337 billion (C$391 billion), while Hong Kong’s were a record US$143 billion and Mainland China’s were US$116 billion.
Hong Kong saw record FDI outflows and inflows in 2014, with inflows of US$103 billion during the year, an increase of 39% from the US$74 billion in inflows during 2013. FDI inflows of US$129 billion went to Mainland China in 2014, up 4% from 2013’s US$124 billion and making it the largest recipient of FDI for the first time, while the third place United States received US$92 billion in new inflows in 2014. These large Chinese inflows and outflows were occurring even though the UNCTAD tracked a decline of 16% in new global FDI inflows (from US$1,467 billion in 2013 to US$1,228 billion in 2014) and a 4% increase in outflows (from US$1,306 billion in 2013 to US$1,354 billion in 2014).
Half of the top ten FDI recipients in the world were developing economies, namely China and Hong Kong alongside Brazil, India, and Singapore. Developing Asia was the top region in terms of FDI outflows, with US$432 billion invested abroad last year, while the Asian economies of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore were among the top twenty investor countries in 2014. Listing those countries which received higher intensities of Chinese FDI, the report indicated that Chinese investors had their strongest relationships with economies in Africa (Burundi, Angola, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Southeast Asia (Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar) and Central Asia (Afghanistan and Tajikistan).