Foreign direct investments in Norway, stocks, 1998-2004

Close to 80 per cent of the foreign direct investment capital in Norway at the end of 2004 belonged to European investors. Of this, 95 per cent stems from investors within the EU. The largest investor countries were the four EU countries Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as the USA. The foreign direct investments of these countries comprised nearly 75 per cent of the total. The rest of the foreign direct investments in Norway at the end of 2004 can mainly be attributed to a few large investors in other countries.

The investment took place mainly within oil and gas exploration and manufacturing industries. These industries comprised about 50 per cent of the foreign direct investments in Norway. Nearly half of the foreign direct investments within the manufacturing industries were in manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. The foreign direct investments within wholesale and retail trade and financial intermediation were also large, amounting to NOK 120.9 billion.

A new reporting system

Up to 2003 the stock of inward foreign direct investment was solely based on surveys conducted by the Central Bank of Norway (Norges Bank). From 2004 on the figures are based on a new survey based balance of payments (BoP) reporting system introduced by Statistics Norway who took over the the FDI statistics from Norges Bank. In addition, information from annual accounts submitted to the Register of Company Accounts has been used for 2004. This gives rise to a break in the time series between 2003 and 2004. The population of companies in the former Norges Bank and the new Statistic Norway surveys is in principle identical, apart from normal changes due to new investments and discontinuation. The largest difference between the two surveys is that Norges Bank’s survey was mainly based on consolidated group accounts for Norwegian group of investment companies, whereas the new system is based on the accounts of each investment company. This may have a significant impact on the calculations of the equity capital as well as the assets and liabilities between the investor and the investment company.

See also : http://www.norges-bank.no/stat/historiske_data/no/

Tables:

• Table 1 Foreign direct investment in Norway. 1998-2004. Total. NOK million
• Table 2 Foreign direct investment in Norway. Geographical distribution. 1998-2004. Total. NOK million
• Table 3 Foreign direct investment in Norway. Industrial distribution. 1998-2004. Total. NOK million