Developed world investment plummets to new low

The amount of cash spent by the developed world on overseas business investment dropped to the lowest level since comparable records began in the second quarter of the year, according to figures from the OECD.

The chart shows you how much in the way of foreign direct investment flowed out of the OECD (the world’s major economies) in recent quarters. The figures are from the OECD (full release can be found here). As you can see, the second quarter of 2013 saw the smallest amount of western investment around the rest of the world since quarterly records began in 2007. If one extrapolates back based on annual figures, it’s the lowest figure since 2003.