Foreign Direct Investment into Australia up ten per cent in 2009 2 August 2010 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Australia was up ten per cent in 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported. Foreign Direct Investment, a component of Total Foreign Investment, reached A$436 billion last year, while Total Foreign Investment grew by almost eight per cent to A$1.897 trillion. “This is a significant turnaround from the minimal growth experienced in 2008 on 2007,” said Dr Matthew Durban, Senior Trade and Investment Analyst for the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). “These figures demonstrate Australia’s resilience as an investment destination,” Dr Durban said. The key points from the data are: - FDI from Japan showed the major increase of FDI into Australia – up 22.6 per cent to A$44.9 billion; this followed an increase of 18 per cent in 2008 on 2007 figures (despite the Global Financial Crisis)
- The European Union remained Australia’s largest trading bloc source of FDI with A$146.5 billion, up 13.7 per cent on 2008
- FDI from China tripled to A$9.2 billion and Total Foreign Investment from China doubled to A$16.6 billion
- FDI from Hong Kong fell 40 per cent to A$5.5 billion (an indication that FDI to Australia is coming more directly from China)
- FDI from China (including Hong Kong) equated to 3.4 per cent of total FDI stock in Australia in 2009, up from 3.2 per cent in 2008
- FDI from the United States fell slightly, to A$99.2 billion.
During the same period, Outward Foreign Direct Investment stock from Australia increased to A$344.5 billion, up more than 14 per cent. More information |