China received a total of $163 billion, the largest amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2020 even through the COVID-19 pandemic struck last year.
The United States came second with $134 billion, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report released on Sunday.
In 2019, the United States had received $251 billion in inflows and China got $140 billion.
China’s economy has come back to positive terms after the coronavirus slump. The fourth quarter has exceeded the expectations as it ended in remarkably good shape and remained poised to expand further this year even as the global pandemic rages unabated.
China became the only major economy in the world which avoided contraction and showed positive development with a growth rate of 2.3% in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The world's second-largest economy has surprised many with the speed of its recovery from the coronavirus jolt, especially as policymakers have also had to navigate tense US-China relations on trade and other fronts.
However, the global FDI rate decreased massively in 2020, falling by 42 per cent. It fell from an accumulative sum of $1.3 trillion in 2019 to an estimated $859 billion, according to the UNCTAD report.
"FDI finished 2020 more than 30% below the trough after the global financial crisis in 2009", the UNCTAD said on Sunday.
FDI flows fell by 37% in Latin American and the Caribbean, by 18% in Africa, and by 4% in developing Asia, the report added.
East Asia accounted for a third of global FDI in 2020, while FDI flows to developed countries fell by 69 per cent.
