The UK was ranked second in Europe for the total inbound foreign direct investments (FDI) and is still expanding its share of the market, according to EY. In the previous year, the UK had secured 975 projects from FDI, which is a decrease of 12 percent from 1,109 from 2019 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
France ranked first by securing 985 FDI projects, and Germany was placed third with 930 projects. Overall, Europe saw a 13 percent decline in profits from 6,412 in 2019 to 5,578 in 2020. It enabled the UK to expand its market share of FDI for the second successive year. Meanwhile, London reclaimed its position as Europe’s most attractive city for investment, overtaking Paris.
The performance of the UK was also partly based on its success in bringing in investment in digital technology projects. It contributed to the largest share of inbound FDI projects in the country every year since 2013. In 2020, there were about 322 digital technology FDI projects in the UK. It is a third of all the UK projects and marked it as Europe’s leading destination for digital tech investment.
Alison Kay, managing partner for client services at EY UK & Ireland, told the media, “Given the impact of the pandemic, a shrinking FDI market, and the then-uncertain future trading relationship with the EU, the UK delivered a positive FDI performance in 2020.” She further added that a relatively small decline in the number of projects means that the UK far-outpaced downbeat investor forecasts too. The UK still has to catch up in areas like clean technology, where it trails Europe.