Foreign direct investment, 1998-2007

At the end of 2007, the Norwegian-owned equity capital in foreign direct investment enterprises amounted to NOK 702 billion, which made up 91 per cent of the total Norwegian direct investment abroad. At the same time, foreign-owned equity capital in Norwegian direct investment enterprises was NOK 417 billion, making up 63 per cent of all foreign direct investment in Norway. The remainder of the invested capital both inward and outward was in the form of net loan claims.

Compared to 2006, the value of Norwegian equity capital abroad increased by NOK 66 billion, which was nearly twice the increase in foreign equity capital in Norway (NOK 36 billion). In both directions these changes represented around 10 per cent of the stocks of direct investment at the end of 2006.

While a quarter of the capital abroad was invested in Sweden and the USA, approximately one third of the capital invested in Norway came from these two countries. Other major countries both for inward and outward investment were the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Almost half of both inward and outward investment stocks were within the activity areas of manufacturing and oil and natural gas exploration and extraction. Other important business activities for direct investment abroad were transport and communication, while financial and business services were other important activities for direct investment in Norway. The activity group “other” is dominated by investment in holiday houses, which is also a part of direct investment. The value of Norwegian investment in holiday houses abroad has been estimated at NOK 135 billion at the end of 2007, while the corresponding estimate of foreign investment in holiday houses in Norway is NOK 40 billion.

The return on direct investment is defined to include paid dividend, reinvested earnings and net interest. The return on investment abroad was NOK 62 billion in 2007, and the corresponding return on investment in Norway was NOK 103 billion.

Data sources and methods

The data for direct investment capital abroad has been revised back to 1998 according to the changes to methods introduced in the 2007 statistics, ref. the text in the frame below. We would also like to point out that the stock data for inward investment up to 2003 was based on the Norges Bank sample surveys. Since 2004, these data have been based on the Statistics Norway reporting system for external transactions, which was established in the same year.

Tables:

• Table 1 Foreign direct investments. 1998-2007. Total NOK million
• Table 2 Foreign direct investment in Norway. 1998-2007. NOK million
• Table 3 Return on direct investment abroad. 2004-2007. NOK million
• Table 4 Return on direct investment in Norway. 2004-2007. NOK million