United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres cautioned that a 2025 rebound in global foreign direct investment—up six percent to $1.6 trillion after two years of decline—conceals deep weaknesses and widening gaps between regions and industries. According to the UN Trade and Development agency’s World Investment Report 2026, the increase was driven almost entirely by a handful of large‑scale projects in artificial intelligence, oil and gas, and semiconductors, concentrated in just 20 countries. Meanwhile, most other sectors shrank, and developing economies saw only a two‑percent rise, with the world’s poorest nations receiving less than three percent of total FDI. Guterres’s preface warned that the headline growth obscures these underlying fragilities and imbalances.