As investors regain confidence in the medium term, flows are expected to reach levels of $1.6 trillion in 2014 and $1.8 trillion in 2015. However, significant risks to this growth scenario remain. Developing countries take the lead. In 2012 – for the first time ever – developing economies absorbed more FDI than developed countries, accounting for 52 per cent of global FDI flows. This is partly because the biggest fall in FDI inflows occurred in developed countries, which now account for only 42 per cent of global flows. Developing economies also generated almost one third of global FDI outflows, continuing a steady upward trend.