Foreign direct investment loses speed in 2012. - Global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose 16 per cent in 2011, surpassing the 2005-2007 pre-crisis level for the first time, despite the continuing effects of the global financial and economic crisis and the current debt crisis in Europe, UNCTAD's annual survey of investment trends reports. A resurgence of economic uncertainty and the possibility of lower growth rates in major emerging markets risk could undercut this new found dynamism, warns UNCTAD. According to the forecasts, the growth rate of FDI will slow in 2012, with flows levelling off at around $1.6 trillion. UNCTAD projections for the medium term based on macroeconomic fundamentals continue to show FDI flows increasing at a moderate but steady pace, reaching $1.8 trillion in 2013 and $1.9 trillion in 2014, barring any macroeconomic shocks. The World Investment Report 2012 also finds that developing economies continued to account for nearly half of global FDI (45 per cent) in 2011 as their inflows reached a new record high, rising 11 per cent to $684 billion Inflows to transition economies accounted for another 6 per cent. They increased during 2011 by 25 per cent. Rising FDI to these economies was driven by a strong increase in flows to Asia and better-than-average growth in Latin America and the Caribbean and the transition economies. Flows to Africa, in contrast, continued to decline in 2011. The poorest countries remained in FDI recession, with flows to the least developed countries retreating 11 per cent to $15 billion. FDI is projected to continue to rise in both developing and transition economies overall, reaching, respectively, $720 billion and $100 billion in 2012, and increasing to between $760 billion-$930 billion for developing countries and $110 billion-$150 billion for transition economies by 2014. FDI from developed countries rose sharply in 2011 - by 25 per cent - to reach $1.24 trillion. All three major developed-economy investor blocs - the European Union, North America and Japan - contributed to this increase. FDI from the United States was driven by a record level of reinvested earnings, as TNCs built on their foreign cash holdings. The rise in FDI outflows from the European Union was driven by cross-border mergers and acquisitions. An appreciating yen improved the purchasing power of Japanese TNCs, resulting in a doubling of their FDI outflows, with net purchases of mergers and acquisitions in North America. (IL/trans/fl)