Archive:Foreign direct investment statistics

EU Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is still affected by the global economic and financial turmoil. In 2012, EU outward flows declined sharply, down 53 % compared with 2011, and recorded their lowest level since 2004. Similarly, EU inward flows decreased from the previous year — down 34 %, to the lowest level since 2005. In this way, 2012 EU FDI flows stood at more than 60 % below the record peaks of 2007 in both inward and outward investment relations with the rest of the world.

In 2010, total FDI outflows decreased by 8 %, mainly due to a sharp decline in 'equity capital', though partially compensated by an increase in 'reinvested earnings'. In 2011, they recovered slightly, up 18 %, again due to recovery in equity capital invested outside the EU.

EU inward flows declined in 2010 by 22 % but recovered partially in 2011, up 13 %. 'Other capital' contributed the most to the positive change, together with reinvested earnings.

The income return from both EU outward and inward investment in 2011 was slightly down from the previous year but remained above the levels of 2008-2009. Provisional figures for 2012 show that EU investment vis-à-vis the rest of the world decreased, partially confirming the lasting impact of the global economic crisis. As in earlier years, FDI flows channelled through Special Purpose Entities (SPE)¹ played a very significant role in the results for 2012.