Bangladesh netted a phenomenally higher annual foreign direct investment worth US$1.78 billion in 2025 as the global flow of FDI marked resurgence last year after two barren years.
The global and local FDI rises are quantified in the World Investment Report (WIR) 2026 just released in Geneva on Tuesday morning by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Bangladesh's FDI inflow recorded 44-percent growth in 2025 against $1.23 billion in 2024, according to the UNCTAD report.
The amount is the highest in the last five years. As a result, FDI as percentage of gross fixed capital stood at 1.40 per cent in the past year which was 0.90 per cent in 2024.
Outstanding stock of FDI reached $19.63 billion at the end of 2025, according to UNCTAD estimate.
The report also shows that outward FDI from Bangladesh to the rest of the world increased by 72.60 per cent to $25 million in the last year from $15 million in 2024.
The amount of global FDI stood at $1.62 trillion in 2025 which was $1.53 trillion in 2024 and $1.32 trillion in 2023.
"But the recovery remains narrow, fragile and uneven," says the report, prepared and published by the UN agency.
Inflows of FDI to developed economies rose 11 per cent although developing economies recorded only 2,0-percent growth, reaching $901 billion.
"The figures point to a rebound that is not translating evenly into development opportunities," observed the UNCTAD.
"The issue is not only how much capital is moving, but where it is going, what it is building and whether it is expanding productive capacity, creating jobs, strengthening skills and supporting technology transfer."
The world's top 20 host economies attracted more than 80 per cent of global FDI in 2025, according to the WIR 2026. The figure underscores a trend: "investment is becoming more concentrated across countries, sectors and projects".
"The recovery should also be interpreted with caution: headline FDI numbers do not always translate into new factories, infrastructure, jobs or technology transfer," adds the annual flagship report of the UNCTAD under the theme 'International Investment in a Turbulent Era'.
It also shows that strategic sectors are reshaping flows: they accounted for 44 per cent of greenfield project value, up from 16 per cent in 2020.
"Developing impact remains uneven: what matters is where investment goes, what it builds and who benefits," WRI 2026 further adds. "Policy is becoming more selective, as governments steer investment towards strategic sectors and national priorities."
Though developing nations received more than half of the global FDI in the last year, growth was modest and uneven across regions. For instance, developing Asia remained the largest recipient region, attracting FDI worth $644 billion, while FDI in Latin America and the Caribbean rose 14 per cent to $188 billion.
Again, Africa received about $70 billion as FDI, which is one third above its 2010-2024 average.
Inflow of FDI in least-developed countries (LDCs) rise 21 per cent to $43 billion, but the group still accounted for only 2.7 per cent of global FDI, with flows concentrated in a small number of mostly resource-rich economies.
"This concentration is particularly visible in industries linked to technology, energy and industrial policy," says the report.
Strategic sectors such as AI infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals and energy-transition technologies and services accounted for 44 per cent of global greenfield project values in 2025, up from 16 per cent in 2020.
"The growth in project values was driven mainly by data centres, followed by oil and gas and semiconductors," the report explains. "Most other sectors registered declines, including renewable energy, infrastructure and manufacturing, showing how narrow the recovery remains."
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