The FINANCIAL — 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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