Birmingham Post

Region proves top spot for foreign investment

- Laura Watson Business Staff

THE West Midlands is the UK hotspot for foreign investment, new figures have revealed.

The region – which encompasse­s the entire West Midlands, Staffordsh­ire and Stoke-on-Trent as well as Telford, Shropshire, Herefordsh­ire, Worcesters­hire and Warwickshi­re – has once again emerged as the UK’s leading location for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) outside London and the South East. It is the fourth consecutiv­e year that the West Midlands has held the top spot.

New data from the Department for Internatio­nal Trade (DIT) found that 145 FDI projects landed in the region during the 2020/21 financial year.

It means the West Midlands holds the third largest share of all UK regions outside the capital and

South East areas, responsibl­e for 9.4 per cent of the UK’s total FDI landscape.

Meanwhile, jobs created by overseas investors during the same period totalled 4,443, bucking the declining national trend to mark a 14 per cent increase in employment from the previous year.

India, along with the US and Germany, ranked as the West Midlands’ leading sources of FDI throughout 2020. And automotive and software services were among the region’s top performing sectors, alongside food and drink, life sciences and business services.

Matt Hammond, chair of the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), the region’s official investment promotion agency and Midlands Region Leader at PwC, said: “The last year has tested economies and societies around the world.

“Alongside the health crisis there has been an economic crisis which has been felt keenly in the West Midlands. That said, these latest figures show that despite the storm of uncertaint­y surroundin­g business confidence, our region remains a firm favourite with investors at home and overseas.

“This sustained track record of popularity – during such unpreceden­ted conditions – is testament to the strong foundation­s of industry, innovation, world-class academia and highly-skilled talent that underpin our economy and continue to resonate with organisati­ons across the globe.”

London remains the country’s leading landing ground for inward investment by volume.

Insights from think tank Onward show that in the two decades to 2016, the number of foreign investment­s made in London has more than tripled, while the number of projects in the rest of the UK fell by 15 per cent - highlighti­ng stark geographic­al imbalances in the national FDI landscape.

Neil Rami, chief executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, said: “As well as reinforcin­g the West Midlands’ consistent stronghold on inbound FDI, these figures sharpen the case for matching the region’s internatio­nal success with devolved investment autonomy.

“If we are serious about levelling up our economy and indeed Britain’s declining share of global foreign investment, we must decentrali­se the country’s FDI levers away from London and devolved nations exclusivel­y, and towards globally appealing, highly productive regions like ours. As overseas competitio­n heats-up post-Brexit, now is the time to unleash the West Midlands investment potential - DIT’s latest ranking is clear testament to that.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom