Thursday July 3, 02:00 AM
Foreign investment boosts brand Britain [at Financial Times]
By John Willman, Business Editor
Britain attracted a record level of overseas investment last year, according to official figures released on Wednesday that showed more than 100,000 jobs had been created or protected in a fifth successive year of growth. UK Trade & Investment,
the Whitehall agency, said the number of inward investment projects rose 10 per cent to 1,573 in the year to April 2008. These had created more than 45,000 jobs and safeguarded a further 58,500 - up 23 per cent and 39 per cent respectively on the previous year.Foreign acquisitions accounted for 30 per cent of the total, down 3 per cent. But the number of new arrivals rose 9 per cent to 653, while 436 companies had expanded their UK operations - a 30 per cent rise on the previous year. Digby Jones, trade and investment minister, said the continuing growth in inward investment reflected the attractiveness of the UK to overseas companies. "As I travel round the world banging the drum for Britain, I hear the same messages again and again. Investors tell me 'you welcome us, you welcome the competition and you don't protect your markets'. "Britain is seen as a good place to do business, and as a good platform for operating in the rest of Europe." The biggest source of inward investment remained the US, with almost a third of the projects accounting for almost 30,000 of the jobs created or safeguarded. The number fell 11 per cent on the previous year, however, as US companies wrestled with the fallout from the credit crunch. Germany became the second biggest source of foreign investment projects, with the number rising 39 per cent to 104. There were also increases in the number of projects from India, which contributed 75, and China, with another 59. Lord Jones said the figures showed a surge of investment in research and development in the UK - up 83 per cent - which reflected the strength of Britain's universities, four of which are in the global top 10. There had also been a rise in investment in advanced engineering, up 61 per cent with 182 projects supporting more than 30,000 jobs. Environmental technology projects also rose to 59 - up 22 per cent. "When I fly to Riyadh, the Airbus (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) wings are made in north Wales," said Lord Jones, "I am picked up in a Jaguar with the security people in a Range Rover - both made in Birmingham ... Downtown there will be fabulous environmental engineering equipment - all British."
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