Abstract

The highly contagious COVID-19 virus spread across the world in a matter of months, beginning in the second half of 2019 and being declared a global pandemic by March, 2020. To limit its continued spread, large parts of economies around the world were shut down, including in Canada and the USA. These actions resulted in levels of unemployment and contractions in GDP not seen since the Great Depression. Superimposed on these truly extraordinary events have been global supply challenges which manifested themselves in an inability of governments to procure critical medical equipment, which exacerbated the health care crisis, increased protectionist sentiments, and led to new protectionist legalisation across many countries. Furthermore, the COVID-19 shock will reinforce trends that were already present globally to shorten supply chains and slow FDI growth, serving as an important tipping point that should encourage governments to consider policies to mitigate the impact of such changes on host economies. This paper considers how these economic, financial, and legislative developments will likely impact FDI patterns for years to come.

摘要

从2019年下半年开始，具有高度传染性的COVID-19病毒在短短几个月内在全球传播，并于2020年3月宣布为全球大流行。为限制其继续传播，世界上大部分经济体被关闭下降，包括加拿大和美国。这些行动导致了自大萧条以来未曾见过的失业率和GDP收缩。在这些真正的非凡事件之外，还存在全球供应挑战，这表明政府无力购买关键医疗设备，这加剧了医疗保健危机，贸易保护主义情绪的提高，并导致许多国家的贸易保护主义合法化。此外，COVID-19冲击将加强全球已经存在的趋势，以缩短供应链并降低外国直接投资的增长，这是一个重要的转折点，应鼓励政府考虑减轻这些变化对东道国经济的影响的政策。本文考虑了这些经济，金融和立法方面的发展将如何在未来几年内影响外国直接投资的格局。