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Global foreign investment reaches 3-year low as economic recovery lags

The release of UNCTAD's report comes amid geopolitical and trade tensions, financial volatility, rising interest rates in rich nations and expected weaker demand for commodities.

A sign of foreign investment on the road in Northern Uganda.
A sign of foreign investment on the road in Northern Uganda. (AN/J. Heilprin)

GENEVA (AN) — Business investments across national borders or overseas plunged by almost a quarter in 2017, and increased trade tensions between the world's major economies could lead to more such setbacks, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reported.

The release of UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2018 comes amid geopolitical and trade tensions, financial volatility, rising interest rates in rich nations and expected weaker demand for commodities. Despite those challenges there has been continued but slowing recovery from the crisis that began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in Sept. 2008 and almost toppled the world’s financial system.

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