Asia-Pacific is established in the top tier of world destinations for FDI, and in 2010 the region consolidated this position with one-third of global FDI projects locating within its borders. Following a 19% decline in projects in 2009, a 1% increase in FDI projects was recorded in 2010 with 3984 projects locating in the region. These projects accounted for an estimated $265.4bn capital investment (35% of global investment) and created an estimated 884,728 jobs (43% of global jobs).

The total capital invested in the Asia-Pacific region fell by 12%, which was primarily due to companies investing less capital in construction and extraction operations. Jobs created by FDI in Asia-Pacific remained stable in 2010, falling by just 0.38%. FDI in manufacturing accounted for 64% of jobs in the region in 2010.

China still top destination

China extended its lead as the top destination country for FDI in Asia-Pacific in 2010. The country attracted 29% of all FDI into the region with the number of FDI projects in China up 13% in 2010. China also ranked as the top destination country in terms of capital investment and job creation, with an estimated $77bn of investment and more than 300,000 estimated new jobs created within the country. The top sectors for FDI into China in 2010 were financial services, industrial machinery, equipment and tools, and software and IT.

India is in second place for FDI within Asia-Pacific, despite a slight 0.3% decline in projects in 2010. Capital investment in India fell by 13% but 14% more jobs were created, with companies starting to set up large job-creating operations in India again.

Australia's fair advance

Australia emerged as one of the fastest growing countries globally for FDI in 2010. It achieved a 40% increase in FDI projects in 2010, which resulted in the country climbing from seventh place to become joint third leading destination country in Asia-Pacific, along with Singapore. Australia attracted 8% of all FDI projects into Asia-Pacific in 2010, up from 5% in 2009. The leading sectors for investment into Australia included software and IT, and the business services sector, which combined accounted for 39% of FDI projects in the country in 2010.

Vietnam, Hong Kong and Thailand were less attractive for FDI in 2010, with project numbers falling by 36%, 24% and 22%, respectively.

Singapore: top FDI city

Singapore has maintained its position as the top destination city in the Asia-Pacific region. fDi Markets recorded a total of 300 projects into the city in 2010, representing an increase of 8% on 2009's figures. Not only did the city perform better in regards to project numbers, but capital investment figures were also up 55%, creating 29% more jobs.

Shanghai overtook Hong Kong to rank as the second best performing Asia-Pacific city for FDI projects, with a 10% increase recorded in 2010.

Sydney and Melbourne benefited from the overall growth of FDI into Australia in 2010, with project numbers into these cities up 20% and 81%, respectively. As a result, Sydney remained the sixth leading city in the Asia-Pacific and Melbourne increased its ranking from 20th place in 2009 to ninth place in 2010.

The city of Pune in India also performed well in 2010, attracting 52% more FDI projects than in 2009.

Intra-investment 

Almost one-third of projects locating in Asia-Pacific in 2010 were investments made by companies headquartered in the region. FDI from North America was the next major source, accounting for 20% of FDI into Asia-Pacific in 2010, and increasing by 9% in 2010. Companies headquartered in London and New York were the most active investors, accounting for 11% of FDI projects in the region, with HSBC and IBM alone accounting for 8% of all projects in Asia-Pacific in 2010.