Your Money or Your Life!

38/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!

Argentina, Malaysia and Thailand. China alone took in S40 billion
of FDI between 1991 and 1993, second in the world only to the US.

Table 3.2 1987-92 FDI flows to developing regions (Sbn and %)

Total
Sub-Saharan Africa
North Africa
Middle East
South Asia
East Asia
Latin America
Eastern Europe
Total developing world

1987-89

5.1

4.1

2.1

1.2

21.2

20.9

0.3

54.9

1990-92

4.3

3.4

3.4

1.5

45.6

34.6

7.5

100.3

% of 1987-92

6

5

3

2

43

36

5

100

Source: WorldBank, World Debt Tables (1994); tallied by Adda, 1996.

In 1996, China took in S42 billion of FDI (UNCTAD, 1997). The
crisis that broke in 19 9 7 might lead to an overall drop in the share of
world FDI to developing countries.

INTRA-TRIAD INVESTMENT

US multinationals have been behind a number of mergers and
takeovers - in Western Europe, above all, but also in Japan. They
would have liked to go further in Japan, but there are strict limits on
foreign acquisitions of Japanese companies. The multinationals of
the different EU countries have been involved in a great many
takeovers and fusions within what is now the Single Market, on the
one hand, and in North America, on the other. They have had even
less success than the Americans in acquiring Japanese companies.
Since 1989-90, German multinationals have bought up a number
of companies in the former Soviet Bloc, especially in countries with
whom Germany shares a border. Japanese multinationals have
invested in North America, Europe and their zone of influence in
Asia. Japanese companies have thus outstripped their competitors by
penetrating key markets while protecting their own with
government backing. US multinationals have topped the Europeans