Chinese investors favour Europe

Beijing - A growing number of Chinese investors are likely to shift to Europe with the United States triggering trade tensions with China, a key survey reported by the China Daily has found.

According to Invest Europe’s “Global Investment Decision Makers Survey 2018”, writes the China Daily, a clear majority of investors (82 percent) — especially those in China (97 percent) — state that a stable regulatory environment is important when making investment decisions, with 47 percent of investors rating Europe as a top performer on regulatory climate compared with the US (32 percent).

The survey findings, released on Monday, also cited that around two in five investors from China (38 percent) said their view of Europe had improved because of a decline in the US attractiveness, more than the 25 percent of respondents overall said the same. Generally, the survey found that Europe’s attractiveness as an investment destination was on the rise compared to 2017, as the majority of global investors are more likely to invest in both the EU and the United Kingdom after Brexit.

Nearly 90 percent of investors said Europe had become a more attractive investment destination over the last five years. Invest Europe will present the findings at a high-level European Commission conference on Monday. Following last year’s inaugural survey, global investors still rank Europe above China and the US for its highly skilled workforce, transport infrastructure and regulatory climate.

They now perceive Europe to have moved ahead of the US as the leader on innovation and entrepreneurship, taxation levels and access to global markets. However, Europe lags the US on IT infrastructure and level of economic growth.