This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at a new report by the United Nations on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) with Bruno Casella, a senior economist at UN Trade and Development.

By tracking 20 years of FDI, the report says global flows are slowing down in the long term. Services are still growing quickly but manufacturing activity has suffered the most.

The stagnation was already happening but the report says recent shocks – ranging from the pandemic to geopolitical tensions – have highlighted how the global economy is becoming more fractured.

All of these factors, it says, will reshape investment decisions, international production and global value chains.

Tune in to Bruno Casella, who led the new FDI report, to find out the implications for developing countries industrializing their economies.

This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at the rare metals and minerals used in mobile phones, laptops and electric car batteries with Clovis Freire, chief of the commodity research and analysis section at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Electric vehicles are seen as clean because they don’t belch out exhaust fumes that fuel climate change. But some of the materials that go into them – especially the minerals and rare elements in their batteries – have large carbon footprints.

The environmental impact of extracting materials like cobalt, copper, lithium and graphite is a major concern.

In countries where much of the mining is done, there can be issues over human rights and the benefits to communities. With demand high and supplies limited, these materials also drive concerns about market domination by just a few producers.

Tune in to UN Trade and Development’s Clovis Freire to find out more about these rare metals and minerals and how to make them greener.

This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at the update to the UN’s Trade and Development Report with UNCTAD director Richard Kozul-Wright.

On the positive side – despite high inflation, high interest rates and gloomy forecasts – the global economy grew 2.7% last year.

The bad news – the update says – is that the positive momentum is going to waste and that growth looks set to be slower this year at 2.6%.

Tune in to UN Trade and Development’s Richard Kozul-Wright to find out how we address not only rising interest rates and inflation but also the urgent challenges of climate change, underinvestment and inequality before it’s too late.