Q1 FDI to Emerging Markets Plunges.

World News - "...Foreign investment flows to developing countries osedived in early 2009 as credit-starved companies in the industrialised world cut back on overseas expansion, a United Nations study said Wednesday...After holding up relatively well last year, foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies felt the full force of the global economic downturn in the first quarter of this year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said...It is predicting further falls in worldwide direct investment flows until the end of the year, with a slow recovery beginning in late 2010 or 2011...UNCTAD said preliminary data for the first quarter of 2009 suggested "a nosedive in FDI" in both rich and poor economies, citing dramatic slumps in flows to China and South Korea..." [Financial Times]

"...Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has been estimated to have dropped by over 55 percent - from $4.4 billion in March 2008 to $2 billion in March 2009..." [Hindustan Times]

"...FDI plunged by 15 percent in 2008 worldwide, compared with its highest level of USD 1.9 trillion (EUR 1.4trn) in 2007..." [British Business Monitor]

"...There are fears that the fall in investment could hamper the economic prospects of developing nations. However, the UN body also offered a glimmer of hope, forecasting that there would be a pick-up in investment in the next two years as favourable factors, such as cheap asset prices and industry restructuring, tempted more foreign investors to renew their investment programmes. "A U-shape scenario with a slow recovery beginning in late 2010 or 2011 is currently considered most probable," UNCTAD said..." [The Times]