Asia Pacific has the second strongest showing with eight markets represented on The Kearney FDI Index—the same representation as last year.
China jumps four ranks to 3rd, and Japan falls from 3rd to 7th. Australia holds firm at 10th, while Singapore decreases from 9th to 12th, perhaps owing in part to a 44 percent drop in FDI commitments, most notably from the United States, China, and Europe last year. New Zealand drops one rank to 16th, and India drops from 16th to 18th. South Korea drops marginally from 19th to 20th, while Taiwan (China) reappears on the main Index at 22nd after last making the list at 25th in 2020.
General investor optimism regarding the economies on this year’s Index is almost two percentage points higher than the average net optimism level last year (see figure 3). Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and France comprise the top five markets with the most optimistic economic outlook in net terms. Notable increases in net scores are seen in Australia (39 percent) with a jump of 10 percent, the United Kingdom (39 percent) with an increase of 8 percent, and the United Arab Emirates (37 percent) with a rise of 7 percent. The United States also has higher net optimism levels, from 34 to 36 percent year-over-year, though it slipped in relative net optimism levels from 3rd to 6th rank among the 25 markets. Conversely, Canada drops 1 percent in net optimism to 41 percent, but remains the highest ranked market on the list. Investors are least optimistic about Poland, Taiwan (China), and Argentina, likely on the back of their relatively low GDP growth rates in 2023, amounting to 0.4 percent, 0.8 percent, and -1.2 percent, respectively.
