Luxembourg, 23/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to initial data published by Eurostat on 20 June, EU fdi (Foreign Direct Investment) with non-EU countries fell for the second year in a row in 2002. Outflows of EU fdi fell by 48% to EUR 140 billion, while inflows fell 35% to EUR 76 billion. In 2001, outflows fell 34% and inflows fell 22% on 2000. The EU remained a net investor in the rest of the world in 2002 although the gap between outflow and inflow narrowed to EUR 64 billion (0.7% of GDP) from EUR 151 billion (1.7% of GDP) in 2001.
The EU's Statistical Office notes that in 2002, the United States were still the EU's main partner, receiving 33% of extra-EU investment from Member States, and supplying 42% of investment from non-EU countries in the EU. The share of the US in total EU FDI flows was, however, considerably lower than in 2001 (58% and 72% for outflows and inflows respectively). Excluding the US, extra-EU outflows in 2002 only fell by 17%, while inflows rose by 37%.
Most Member States recorded a drop in fdi in 2002. The sole Member State having increases for both inflows and outflows was Finland. France, Ireland, Portugal and Sweden recorded higher inflows than in 2001, and outflows from Spain and Austria also increased. Portugal and Sweden recorded slight disinvestment in non-EU countries.
With respect to EU outflows, with EUR 35 billion and a 25% share of the EU total, Luxembourg was the largest investor in the rest of the world in 2002, followed by the United Kingdom (EUR 31 billion) and France (EUR 28 billion). Germany, which had been the largest investor in 2001, saw its contribution fall to EUR 3 billion in 2002 (-94% on 2001). Outflows from the Netherlands (-91%), and Denmark (-78%) also fell significantly.
In 2002, Luxembourg with EUR 27 billion was also the main recipient of fdi and had a share of 35% of total EU inflows, followed by France (EUR 12 billion). The Netherlands (-78%) and the United Kingdom (-73%) recorded the highest falls in fdi inflows.
In terms of net investment (i.e. the difference between outflows and inflows), the UK was the main contributor to the EU total with a net outflow of EUR 26 billion, followed by Spain and France, with EUR 17 billion and EUR 16 billion respectively. With inflows higher than outflows by EUR 3.5 billion, Sweden was the largest net recipient of fdi from the rest of the world, closely followed by Belgium and the Netherlands.