The decrease of foreign investment in UK is likely due to Brexit. (Image via: Emfasis.edu.gr)

Foreign Investment Number at the Lowest in UK

Kirana Chandra Mumpuni Budiana
Politics & Economic
Economic
Jun 27, 2019
1100
For the 2018-2019 period, the number of investment by overseas firms decreased sharply by 14 percent. The number is 1,782. Compare to the years before, this decrease is significant. The amount of jobs created also fell to 57,625 which the lowest number for the past seven years. There’s even a sharp drop in the number of existing jobs which have been secured by investment in the UK. However, the most shocking is the declining of foreign investment number from Department for International Trade's released figures.

Nevertheless, UK is still the number one place on European’s destination investment and U.S. investment. Advanced engineering and supply chain, business and consumer services, creative and media, automobile, as well as electronics and communications, were the attractive sectors for foreign investment. Although it’s still look good, the financial competition is getting stronger with Ireland, France and Germany. International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, said that his department will continue to promote the UK’s strengths as a great inward investment destination.

According to the 2018 data provided by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the total value of the UK's inwards investment stock is still the highest in Europe. It reached 1.89 trillion pounds. However, now in the middle of Brexit uncertainty, some investors feel reluctant about investment in UK. The position of UK in EU is still not clear due to the postponed departure. The deadline of the decision is October 31st 2019. Meanwhile, the attractiveness of UK is reduced. It can be seen from a decrease in the number of manufacturing FDI projects, as reported by EY's European Attractiveness Survey 2019.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48776125#

Foreign , Investment , UK , Brexit , EU , Trade