The regional launch of the report, produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was held at the Diplomat Radisson SAS yesterday.
It was attended by UNCTAD head of investment Nazha Benabbes Taarji-Aschenbrenner, and Economic Development Board deputy chief executive Dr Zakaria Hijris.
FDI inflows into Bahrain rose by 2pc to nearly $ 1.8 billion. Overall, Bahrain attracted more FDI as a proportion of total overall investment than any other GCC country except for Saudi Arabia.
"The 2pc increment in the FDI inflow to Bahrain, despite the global credit crisis, reflects the resilience of Bahrain’s economy, its business-friendly environment and the strength of its policies to be a preferred destination for investment," said Dr Hijris, who is also chairman of the MENA Centre for Investment.
Globally FDI flows have been severely affected worldwide by the economic and financial crisis and inflows are expected to fall from $ 1.7 trillion last year to below $ 1.2trn this year, with a slow recovery next year, to a level up to $ 1.4trn gaining momentum in 2011 to approach $ 1.8trn, according to Taarji-Aschenbrenner.
"While FDI inflows declined globally and in developed countries, where the financial crisis originated, flows to developing countries and the transition economies of South-East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued to rise last year," she said.
"This reflected, in part, a delay as the economic downturn worked its way through the economies of developing countries and only more slowly affected their exports.
