Germany Hit by Fall in Foreign Investment

Foreign direct investment in industrialized countries slumped by 11.3 percent last year, with sharp declines in Germany and France, the OECD reported on Thursday. In 2004, total FDI in the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development dropped to 337 billion euros ($407 billion) compared with 459 billion euros in 2003, the OECD said. Europe's two biggest economies suffered the hardest blows. In Germany, foreign investors withdrew about 39 billion dollars, reversing the inflow of 27 billion dollars in 2003. In France FDI was about half of what it was in 2003. On the other hand, investments by OECD countries in the rest of the world rose 12.6 percent to 668 billion dollars.