15941_not-searchable
/en/utenriksokonomi/statistikker/udin/aar
15941
Foreign Direct Investment in Norway went up
statistikk
2007-09-13T10:00:00.000Z
External economy
en
udin, Foreign direct investments in Norway, stocksForeign assets and liabilities , External economy
false

Foreign direct investments in Norway, stocks, 1998-2005

Content

Published:

This is an archived release.

Go to latest release

Foreign Direct Investment in Norway went up

At the end of 2005 the stock of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Norway amounted to NOK 517.4 billion compared with NOK 473.0 at the end of 2004. In 2005, European investors owned more than 70 per cent of this capital.

The foreign investors’ equity capital amounted to NOK 302.7 billion, whereas other net claims (loans etc.) comprised the rest (NOK 214.7 billion).

More than 70 per cent of the foreign direct investment capital in Norway at the end of 2005 belonged to European investors, of which 95 per cent to investors within the EU. The largest investor countries were the five EU countries Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France, as well as the USA. The foreign direct investment of these six countries comprised round three fourth of the total. The rest of the FDI in Norway at the end of 2005 can mainly be attributed to a few large investors in other countries.

Massive investment within oil and gas exploration

The investment took place mainly within oil and gas exploration and manufacturing industries. These industries comprised about 60 per cent of the foreign direct investment in Norway. Round half of the foreign direct investment within the manufacturing industries was in manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. Other important FDI industries in Norway were wholesale and retail trade and financial intermediation.

A large share of the growth in the foreign investment was a result of high profits in the companies which caused an increase in earned equity capital often in the form of purposed dividend. Much of these profits will be paid as dividends to the shareholders through the next years and this part of the increased FDI is as such temporary.

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, the figures are based on a new survey reporting system for balance of payments purposes introduced by Statistics Norway. The latter 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 company abroad. 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.

Previously published FDI figures for 2004 have been revised based on new information. Another thing to be noted is that deposed dividend, which previously was included in “other claims”, is now included in equity capital as an adaption to the IFRS accounting standard.

Tables: