Mexico remains in 11th place in terms of attracting global FDI

Mexico remained in 11th place in the ranking of economies that attracted the most Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in 2024, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The country attracted US$37 billion in 2024, compared to US$36 billion in 2023.

In its World Investment Report 2025, UNCTAD notes that FDI inflows to Mexico were driven by manufacturing and logistics.

The United States led the list with US$279 billion, followed by Singapore (US$143 billion), Hong Kong (US$126 billion), China (US$116 billion), Luxembourg (US$106 billion), and Canada (US$64 billion).

In UNCTAD's outlook, macroeconomic indicators point to a slowdown. Global GDP growth forecasts have been revised downward since the beginning of the year, while projections for capital formation and trade—crucial for value chain-driven investment—have also weakened.

At the same time, persistently high debt levels in several countries, coupled with political instability and exchange rate fluctuations, are reducing the attractiveness of FDI in many regions. Investor confidence indicators, such as the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), have weakened in the main capital-exporting countries.

UNCTAD data show that while FDI inflows to the United States increased by 19.7% in 2024, flows to China declined by 28.8% year-on-year.

Globally, FDI flows fell at a year-on-year rate of 11% in 2024, to US$1.531 trillion, in comparable terms.

To obtain this result, the agency neutralized volatile financial transactions across several European economies with high levels of channeling flows that would have inflated the data, bringing it to a year-on-year increase of 4%.

Regionally, FDI associated with cross-border mergers and acquisitions activity in Latin America and the Caribbean declined sharply in 2024, as net sales plummeted 85% from US$11.1 billion in 2023 to just US$1.6 billion.

This was mainly due to Iberdrola (Spain) selling a 55 percent stake in its fossil fuel power generation subsidiaries in Mexico to Infrastructure Partners (Mexico) for US$6.2 billion.

In addition, Brazil, the only major M&A market in the region, recorded a 37% decline, with sales falling from US$8.5 billion to US$5.4 billion.

On the other hand, developing economies accounted for 57% of global FDI inflows in 2024.

Total FDI directed to developing countries remained stable at US$867 billion, virtually unchanged from the previous year, reflecting some resilience in the face of global uncertainty, restrictive financial conditions, and weakening global trade.