China to account for 30% of global investment

WASHINGTON - The developing nations will triple its share in global investment to 60 percent of the total by 2030, the World Bank (WB) said in a forecast released on Thursday.

The bank's Global Development Horizons report also predicts that by then half of the global stock of capital -- $158 trillion in 2010 value-- will reside in the developing countries, in contrast with less than one-third today.

By 2030, China will account about 30 percent of global aggregate investment, with Brazil, India, and Russia together accounting for more than 13 percent of the total, the document said.

The shift in allocation of global capital stock corresponds closely to similar rise in developing countries' share of global domestic product (GDP).

Currently, roughly 70 percent of global GDP is produced in high-income countries, and that share will decline to around 50 percent by 2030.

According to the report, by 2030 the developing countries will account for 87 percent of the global growth compared with 73 percent around 2015, and they will also account for more than 50 percent of global trade by that time.

Productivity catch-up, increasing integration into global markets, sound macroeconomic policies, and improved education and health are helping boost growth and create massive investment opportunities, which, in turn, are spurring a shift in global economic weight to developing countries, said the report.

The document "clearly highlights the increasing role developing countries will play in the global economy. This is undoubtedly a significant achievement."

However, even if wealth will be more evenly distributed worldwide, this does not mean that, within countries, everyone will equally benefit," said Maurizio Bussolo, lead author of the report.