Bristol is set for growth in foreign investment over next five years
A new report has revealed that Bristol has moved up to 13th place in a UK-wide league table measuring foreign direct investment attractiveness.
Produced by law firm Irwin Mitchell, the Investment Attractiveness Index has been compiled by a team at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which has analysed the UK’s 50 largest cities according to eight indicators related Growth Potential, Local Infrastructure, and Local Skills.
Boosting its chances of attracting hundreds of new jobs from inward investment in the future, the report found Bristol is up four places with a score of 29.1.
This overall attractiveness score is 7.8 points lower than the previous year and mainly caused by lower predicted GVA growth in 2024 compared to 2023.
The report found that Bristol ranks very highly in terms of online connectivity and has increased its position considerably in terms of local infrastructure.
Bryan Bletso, partner and head of international at Irwin Mitchell said: “These results point to challenging conditions and mirror the sentiment amongst both businesses in the South West and overseas investors that we are speaking to.
“The new Government has said that it will be taking immediate action to fix the foundations of the economy and according to our findings, this is going to be crucial if the UK is to enhance its attractiveness to foreign investment. There are encouraging signs already with the Chancellor announcing the creation of a £7.3 billion National Wealth Fund to catalyse private sector investment.”
Pushpin Singh, senior economist at Cebr, said: “With FDI remaining crucial for economic growth, driving innovation and creating jobs, local and national governments should work together to make improving attractiveness to investment a key priority over the coming years.”
FDI refers to investments made by foreign investors in a company located in a different country. It can take the form of greenfield investments or mergers and acquisitions. In 2021, the UK’s inward FDI position was £2,002bn, slightly higher than the previous year’s £1,919bn.
