Global flows of foreign directinvestment (FDI) declined severely during the recenteconomic and financial crisis. As the crisis eased, recoveryin world economies spurred a resurgence of FDI, and that inturn reignited competition for investments among hostcountries. Especially in emerging markets, governments longhave prized FDI as a source of much-needed capital and jobs.But in the 21st century, governments value FDI as much ormore as a source of technology and know-how. Policymakershave witnessed how knowledge brought by foreign investorscan spill over to local firms, bolster skills in the localworkforce, and thus increase the overall competitiveness oftheir economies. To foster development of intellectualcapital as well as businesses and jobs, governmentsincreasingly recognize the importance of cultivating FDI.Providing business and investment climate information is acrucial component of IPI activities in all economies. ButIPIs can gain particular advantage in those settings whereinvestors find it most difficult to obtain reliableinformation and meet bureaucratic requirements. Researchshows, for example, that investment promotion is moreeffective in economies where English is not an officiallanguage, and in economies that are more culturally distantfrom the investorscorporate homes. Investment promotionalso has more impact in countries with less effectivegovernments and in economies that erect more barriers tolaunching a business (such as more time to obtain aconstruction permit). In this 2012 edition, GIPB focusesspecifically on information provision in two sectors,tourism and agribusiness. This focus should be of particularuse to economies that seek or are considering seeking FDI inthose sectors.
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