Ireland ranks 12th in the global table of countries that attract foreign investment, a new UN report reveals.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will publish its annual world investment report next week. It will show that the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland increased almost fivefold from $34 billion (€31.27 billion) in 1990 to $157 billion in 2002.

Commenting on Ireland's ranking, Mr Danny McCoy, an economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute, suggested that, if the table had been arranged on a per-capita basis, the country would probably be even closer to the top.

"Ireland, despite the difficulties of recent times, remains an attractive location for foreign direct investment. The big challenge is to maintain that position," he said.

According to the report, Irish outward FDI tripled from $12 billion in 1990 to $36 billion in 2002. This puts us 23rd in the global table of overseas investors.

At the top of both inward and outward FDI tables for 2002 are the US and the UK, attracting $1,351 billion and $639 billion, respectively, while investing $1,501 billion and $1,033 billion abroad, respectively. However, if inward FDI for China (ranked fourth) and Hong Kong (ranked fifth) were combined, China would easily overtake the UK to claim second place in the investment league.

The FDI figures reflect the effects of globalisation in recent years, where companies have spread their production and distribution bases around the world.

Since 1980, global inward FDI has risen from $699 billion to $7,123 billion, while global outward FDI has risen from $564 billion to $6,866 billion.

Among the surprises in the report is the relatively small amount of FDI that former communist countries in eastern and central Europe have attracted - only $188 billion in 2002.

However, this compares favourably with the 1990 figure of just $3 billion.