The increase in flows through global financial centers boosted global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which increased by 14% in 2025, reaching $1.6 trillion , revealed a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) .
“More than $140 billion came from increased flows through global financial centers. Without these channeling flows, global FDI would have increased by only about 5 percent. This highlights the limited recovery of underlying investment activity,” UNCTAD explained in its latest Global Investment Trends Monitor .
According to the report, the value of international mergers and acquisitions fell 10% last year, while project financing decreased 16% in value and 12% in number of deals, marking the fourth consecutive year of declines.
Announcements of greenfield projects (those developed entirely from scratch) fell by 16%, and although total values were high, there were a small number of megaprojects.
The report highlighted that FDI flows to developed economies increased by 43% , reaching $728 billion in 2025, driven by Europe and financial centers.
“The European Union experienced a 56% increase, due to large cross-border acquisitions and a recovery in major economies such as Germany, France and Italy,” the analysis detailed.
Conversely, flows to developing economies decreased by 2%, to $877 billion last year. Low-income countries were the most affected; “three-quarters of them registered stagnant or declining flows.”
The agency noted that international infrastructure projects fell 10%, due to a decline in renewable energy, as investors reassessed revenue risks and regulatory uncertainty.
UNCTAD also pointed out that data centers attracted more than a fifth of the value of global greenfield projects in 2025 , with announced investment exceeding $270 billion, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and digital networks.
“France, the United States and the Republic of Korea topped the list of host countries, while emerging markets such as Brazil, India, Thailand and Malaysia also attracted large projects,” the report stated, noting that the value of semiconductor projects increased by 35% during the period.
Despite this scenario, the United Nations agency estimated that FDI flows could increase “modestly” in 2026 only if financing conditions continue to improve and cross-border mergers and acquisitions pick up.
“However, real investment activity is likely to remain subdued, hampered by geopolitical tensions, political uncertainty, and economic fragmentation. Without coordinated action, global investment risks becoming even more concentrated in a few regions and sectors,” he concluded.
In Mexico, although the Ministry of Economy has not yet released the 2025 FDI figure, data from the agency itself indicate that in the third quarter of 2025 (3Q25) FDI was 40,906 million dollars , a 15% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
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