UK no longer the investment capital of Europe
Since the financial crisis began in 2007, plummeting flows of capital into and out of the UK have seen it lose its coveted status as the investment capital of Europe.
Indeed, the amount of foreign direct investment has fallen from £196 billion in 2007 to just £46 billion in 2010. As a result, the UK is no longer the favoured European destination for overseas investment, and now ranks behind Belgium and Germany.
In reality, while the investment level into the UK slumped by 38 percent last year, the drop across the European Union as a whole was just 19 percent.
Unfortunately, the picture is no rosier when it comes to the UK’s investment abroad. Between 2002 and 2010, our overseas investment plunged from £272 billion to just £11 billion. As a result, the UK dropped from second in the global league table to 27th place between 2007 and 2010, and now languishes behind countries such as Ireland, Mexico, Luxembourg and South Korea.
