Foreign direct investment, once thought of as a one-way street from developed into emerging markets, is changing. Increasingly, investment in emerging markets is coming not from traditional sources but from other developing countries.

Foreign direct investment to emerging markets reached $165bn (€129bn) in 2004, although 90% went to five countries – Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia. In the same year, outward foreign investment was $83bn, a six-fold increase from 1991.