Innovations in Foreign Direct Investment Attraction

7. Marketing the location: The example of Dubai FDI shows how FDI tracking can 

be integrated with a website to publish FDI data and promote the location more ef-

fectively to potential investors as well as provide the local and global FDI community 

with real time FDI data at their fingertips.

The resources and budget required to track FDI in a location depends on the type 

of FDI being tracked and the volume of FDI in the location. It also depends on the 

proportion of foreign investors that the IPA has an involvement with in helping to 

invest. In some countries, the IPA may be involved in a very high percentage of FDI 

projects (such as in small countries or countries where the IPA controls incentives 

or licenses and permits) so the IPA will already have comprehensive intelligence on 

who is investing, while in other countries the IPA may have a much more limited 

involvement, such as in countries where investors can go straight to the free zone 

authorities without being required to engage with the IPA. For most IPAs in LAC, 

having 1-2 senior researchers should be sufficient to track FDI in the location on a 

continuous basis. To procure databases and platforms to assist in tracking and re-

cording FDI, a minimum budget of US$5,000 per annum should be allocated while 

to develop a website to publish FDI data would require a budget around US$30,000.

30  Loewendahl (2015) “A new foreign direct investment accounting methodology for economic development organizations” (Columbia FDI Perspectives. No. 165, January 18, 2015).

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