The strong fall in EU27 investments in the rest of the world in 2010 is explained by the significant declines recorded with the Offshore financial centres (from 89 bn euro in 2009 to 21 bn in 2010), the USA (from 79 bn to 12 bn) and Switzerland (from 44 bn to disinvestment of 7 bn).
The USA was the main source of investment in the EU27, although down strongly from 97 bn euro in 2009 to 28 bn in 2010. Investments in the EU27 also decreased significantly from Switzerland (from 25 bn to 6 bn) and Offshore financial centres4 (from 46 bn to a disinvestment of 4 bn). However, investments increased strongly from Canada (from 12 bn to 28 bn), Hong Kong (from 1 bn to 11 bn) and Brazil (from 0.4 bn to 4 bn), and to a lesser extent from Japan and China.
Belgium largest net investor and the United
Kingdom largest net recipient
Luxembourg, with outflows of 38 bn euro, was the largest investor outside the EU27 in 2010, followed by Belgium (36 bn), Germany (29 bn) and France (23 bn). Luxembourg (48 bn) was also the main recipient of FDI inflows from outside the EU27, ahead of the United Kingdom (28 bn), Ireland (21 bn) and Germany (14 bn). The role of Luxembourg in EU FDI is mainly explained by the importance of its financial intermediation activity.
As in previous years, the EU27 was in 2010 a net investor in the rest of the world, with outflows higher than inflows by 53 bn euro. Among the EU Member States, Belgium was the largest net investor outside the EU27 in 2010, with net investment of 38 bn, followed by Sweden (22 bn), the Netherlands (19 bn), France (15 bn) and Germany (14 bn). With inflows higher than outflows by 16 bn, the United Kingdom was the largest net recipient of FDI from outside the EU27, followed by Ireland (14 bn) and Luxembourg (9 bn).
