The global economic crisis has hit foreign investment into the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) region, the organization said in a report on Monday. It said in a statement that foreign direct investment (FDI) to the area, covering 14 Arab countries, fell from $64 billion (44 billion euros) in 2007 to around $60 billion (41 billion euros) in 2008. “ESCWA experts expect the FDI inflows to the region to further decline in 2009 as a result of the global economic slowdown and its severe impact on transnational corporations, which has in turn led to delays in the implementation of a number of investment projects in several ESCWA countries.”
