“The Economist”: Israel’s share of global inward investment 0.63%
Foreign direct investment in Israel totaled $5.71 billion in 2005, 3.35 times the amount in 2004.
Zeev Klein 2 Feb 06 14:32
In its “Inflation Report for July-December 2005”, published this week, the Bank of Israel warned against “a change in the global financial environment that would lead to the withdrawal of capital from emerging markets, Israel among them.”
“The Economist” states that Israel’s share of global foreign direct investment was 0.63% in 2005, amounting to $5.71 billion - 3.35 times the $1.7 billion in foreign direct investment in 2004. The surge in foreign direct investment in Israel in 2005 was due to large privatizations, especially Bank Leumi (TASE:LUMI) and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT).
Although Israel was not included in “The Economist’s” shortlist of the 15 emerging markets with the highest foreign direct investment in 2005, Israel’s achievement is no small matter. Unlike other emerging markets, Israel has no natural resources, such asoil, gold or diamonds.
In this week’s edition, “The Economist” writes, “Inflows of foreign direct investment grew by 29% in 2005 to reach almost $900 billion.” Global foreign direct investment totaled $639 billion in 2004. Global foreign direct investment has grown by 50%, or $300 billion, within two years, but was still 36% below the $1.4 trillion level during the high-tech bubble in 2000.
Foreign direct investment in 27 emerging markets worldwide rose by 38% in 2005; in Israel, it rose 3.35-fold. Among emerging markets, China attracted the greatest amount of foreign direct investment in 2005 - $60 billion, the same as in 2004, and 10.5 times more than was invested in Israel. China attracted $120 billion in foreign direct investment in the past two years, partly because of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Lagging far behind China in the foreign direct investment rankings for 2005 are Hong Kong ($40 billion), and Russia ($25 billion).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 2, 2006
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