Daling investeringsstromen van en naar Europa in 2010 (en)

Following the economic crisis, EU27 FDI1 (foreign direct investment) in the rest of the world (outflows) declined significantly in 2010, falling by 62%, from 281 billion euro in 2009 to 107 bn in 2010, while FDI into the EU27 from the rest of the world (inflows) dropped by 75%, from 216 bn to 54 bn. This continues the trend of recent years, with EU27 outflows in 2010 standing at more than five times lower than in 2007, and inflows around eight times lower.

These figures2, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, come from the first FDI results for 20103.

USA and Canada main investors in the EU27

The strong fall in EU27 investments in the rest of the world in 2010 is explained by the significant declines recorded with the Offshore financial centres4 (from 89 bn euro in 2009 to 21 bn in 2010), the USA (from 79 bn to 12 bn) and Switzerland (from 44 bn to disinvestment of 7 bn).

The USA was the main source of investment in the EU27, although down strongly from 97 bn euro in 2009 to 28 bn in 2010. Investments in the EU27 also decreased significantly from Switzerland (from 25 bn to 6 bn) and Offshore financial centres4 (from 46 bn to a disinvestment of 4 bn). However, investments increased strongly from Canada (from 12 bn to 28 bn), Hong Kong (from 1 bn to 11 bn) and Brazil (from 0.4 bn to 4 bn), and to a lesser extent from Japan and China.

Belgium largest net investor and the United Kingdom largest net recipient

Luxembourg, with outflows of 38 bn euro, was the largest investor outside the EU27 in 2010, followed by Belgium (36 bn), Germany (29 bn) and France (23 bn). Luxembourg (48 bn) was also the main recipient of FDI inflows from outside the EU27, ahead of the United Kingdom (28 bn), Ireland (21 bn) and Germany (14 bn). The role of Luxembourg in EU FDI is mainly explained by the importance of its financial intermediation activity5.

As in previous years, the EU27 was in 2010 a net investor in the rest of the world, with outflows higher than inflows by 53 bn euro. Among the EU Member States, Belgium was the largest net investor outside the EU27 in 2010, with net investment of 38 bn, followed by Sweden (22 bn), the Netherlands (19 bn), France (15 bn) and Germany (14 bn). With inflows higher than outflows by 16 bn, the United Kingdom was the largest net recipient of FDI from outside the EU27, followed by Ireland (14 bn) and Luxembourg (9 bn).

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  Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the category of international investment that reflects the objective of obtaining a lasting interest by an investor in one economy in an enterprise resident in another economy. The lasting interest implies that a long-term relationship exists between the investor and the enterprise, and that the investor has a significant influence on the way the enterprise is managed. Such an interest is formally deemed to exist when a direct investor owns 10% or more of the voting power on the board of directors (for an incorporated enterprise) or the equivalent (for an unincorporated enterprise). FDI flows presented here include re-invested earnings. 2010 data are preliminary estimates. Updated detailed figures will be released by the end of 2011.
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  The figures presented for 2010 are estimates based on annualised quarterly Balance of Payments data from the Member States as of April 2011, while the data for 2007-2009 correspond to the latest annual FDI data transmission. Data for the EU aggregate take into account confidential data, estimates for Member States missing data and data for Special Purpose Entities (SPEs), that are additionally collected by Eurostat and the ECB from Member States not including SPEs’ FDI in national data. This ensures adherence to international standards, exhaustiveness of the EU aggregates and explains why the total of Member States’ flows differs from the EU aggregates. SPEs are mainly financial holding companies, foreign-owned, and principally engaged in cross-border financial transactions, with no or negligible local activity in the Member State of residence.
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  Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, 25/2011 "Foreign direct investment flows still influenced by the crisis", available free of charge in pdf format on the Eurostat web site.
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  Offshore Financial Centres (OFC) is an aggregate used in Eurostat FDI data which includes 38 countries. As examples, the aggregate contains European financial centres, such as Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands, Andorra and Gibraltar; Central American OFC such as Panama and Caribbean islands like Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands; and Asian OFC such as Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines.
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  SPEs account for most of Luxembourg's FDI.

EU27 FDI flows by partner, billion euro

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  including Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen

** excluding Hong Kong

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  Data not available

Minus sign stands for disinvestment

2007-2009: annual FDI data. Preliminary figures for 2010 are based on annualised quarterly data

The sum of continents does not always equal total extra-EU because of not allocated flows

EU27 FDI flows: 2010 preliminary results by main partner and Member State, billion euro

OFC: Offshore Financial Centres.

Minus sign stands for disinvestment.

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  Data for EU aggregates take into account confidential data and data for Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) that in some cases are additionally collected by Eurostat and the ECB from Member States not including SPEs FDI in national data (see footnote 2).

** Data excluding SPEs.

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  Data is confidential or not available.
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  Less than 50 million euro.