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15923
Continued strong increase in foreign direct investment
statistikk
2008-06-25T10:00:00.000Z
External economy
en
diu, Foreign direct investments, stocksForeign assets and liabilities , External economy
true

Foreign direct investments, stocks, 1998-2006

Content

Published:

Continued strong increase in foreign direct investment

Norway's stock of foreign direct investment abroad (FDI) amounted to NOK 764 billion at the end of 2006, compared to NOK 667 billion at the end of 2005. Investment in other transport activities, post and telecommunications was the major factor behind the increase.

The falling trend in Norway’s stock of foreign direct investment appears to have turned. The strong increase in 2005 continued in 2006, and at the end of the year the direct investment had increased by 14 per cent. Direct investment comprises long-term equity and loan claims on foreign enterprises and the threshold for direct investment is 10 per cent ownership of the equity capital

Sweden most important recipient

There was a considerable increase in FDI in Sweden, with a share of 21 per cent of total FDI stocks at the end of 2006, compared to 16 per cent the year before. The second most important destination for Norwegian foreign investment after Sweden was the United States, which had a small decrease in the investments compared to 2005. Singapore had a continuous increase and became the third most important FDI destination, with the Netherlands following close behind. Other large FDI destinations, like Denmark, Great Britain and Belgium/Luxembourg had an investment reduction in 2006.

The percentage of Norwegian direct investment in Asia increased, 15 per cent of FDI was located in Asian countries in 2006, up from 12 per cent at the end of 2005. At the same time, FDI in European countries has been decreasing for the last years, although there was a small increase in 2006. The share of FDI in Europe was 58 per cent, compared to 56 per cent the year before. 15 percent of the FDI was allocated to North-America.

Oil and gas extraction more important

Investments within other transport activities, post and telecommunications increased considerably, from 8.5 percent at the end of 2005 up to 15 per cent at the end of 2006. Manufacturing and mining industries have traditionally been very important, but their share of the total FDI has been declining over several years and made up 30 percent of the direct investment abroad by the end of 2006. Investments within oil and gas extraction increased, yet on a smaller scale than in 2005. This industry is about to catch up with manufacturing and mining industries in importance, and its share of FDI was 29 per cent in 2006.

Data sources and revisions

The figures presented are based on an annual survey conducted by the Directorate of Taxes. The survey covers foreign enterprises in which a Norwegian investor has direct ownership of 10 per cent or more of the equity, or indirect ownership of 50 per cent or more. The figures represent the own funds at book value of the foreign investment companies, which can be very different from the market values. Invested capital in directly and indirectly owned companies is aggregated without netting. This leads to higher estimates of invested capital abroad compared with the use of consolidated accounts for the directly owned companies. For more information can be retrieved from “About the statistics”.

Statistics published the previous years are continuously revised. Statistics on return on foreign direct investment were previously published together with the stock data, but because of changes regarding the data sources we have chosen to publish the return statistics separately.

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