China is expected to overtake the US as the world's leading recipient of corporate investment in the next five years, reveals a study of future global capital flows.

According to the study, China will become the most influential country in IT and telecom, industrial products and mining.

KPMG International has come to these conclusions by surveying over 300 of the largest multinational companies in 15 countries, plus representatives of private equity and sovereign wealth funds.

"Our survey shows corporate investors are already planning their responses to a shift in global economic power, after a period when the US has had a disproportionately high share of global investments. The majority of the people surveyed saw the next five years to return to more normal patterns of investment," said Sue Bonney, head of tax for KPMG's Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Some 51 corporate investors surveyed are considering investing in China this year, while the number increases to 72 in 2013 and 2014, compared with about 69 considering investing in the US in 2013 and 2014. Though still drawing a very high proportion of global investments, the US is still placed behind China.

The US is also expected to be dislodged from its dominant position in mining, industrial products and IT-telecom sectors, with China taking the first place in each of these. The survey showed a trend of investments moving away from the US, Japan, Singapore and the UAE, and a big increase in investment flows into Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC nations).

"The BRIC economies are viable alternative places to invest, primarily taking away funds from the US economy. A roughly equal balance of economic power is being established between the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific, which would indeed herald the beginning of an entirely new global economic game," Sue said.

Earlier in March, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said China could overtake the US by 2025 to be the world's largest economy and is anticipated to grow to about 130 percent the size of the US by 2050.

In the report titled "The World in 2050: Beyond the BRICs", PwC said it is still upbeat about China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and Turkey.

(China Daily June 18, 2008)