Canadian overseas investment

The stock of foreign direct investment owned by Canadians has shown a steady growth over the past quarter century. In 2010, the total stock of Canadian outward investment decreased 0.7%, while the stock of Canadian outward investment to Asia increased 27.1%. In the past two decades, our portfolio has become more diversified, at least on a regional basis. For example, the share of Canadian investment abroad in the United States has fallen from around 63% in 1980 to just 41% today. Over the same period, shares found in all other regions, except ‘Other Regions’, have all increased. Apart from the United States, a significant amount of Canadian FDI is located in the United Kingdom ($70.2 billion) and the low tax haven of Barbados ($51.7 billion).

Adapted from the Statistics Canada CANSIM database http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca, CANSIM Table 376-0051, October 5, 2011; the Statistics Canada Website on the National Economic Accounts module, http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.pgm?Lang=E&RootDir=CII/&ARRAY_VREL=3760051&PortalID=3764&ResultTemplate=V3764, October 5, 2011; 1980 figures are adapted from Statistics Canada, Canada’s International Investment Position, 2001, Catalogue No. 67-202-XIB 2001000 2001 March 27, 2002.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or re-disseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its toll-free number 1-800-263-1136 and its website: www.statcan.ca.

Notes: Data used to produce this chart reflect the stock of foreign direct investment abroad held by Canadians. Stock refers to the magnitude of investment that has accumulated over time, as opposed to the flow of new investment made in a given peroid.
* Includes Mexico and islands between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
** Includes Asia up to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, plus Australia and New Zealand.
*** Data for the Middle East, which Statistics Canada includes in its Asia aggregate, have been included instead in the ‘Other Regions’ category.

This table illustrates a number of interesting changes over the past 30 years. At the beginning of the 1980s, Canadian investment in Asia was heavily concentrated in Australia and Indonesia. Since that time, investment in Singapore and Hong Kong has grown very rapidly, relative to the rest of the region. Australia is now the country in which Canada has the most investment, while interest in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore has remained very high. On the other hand, there is a relative dearth of Canadian investment in South Korea, Vietnam, India and China. In the case of Korea, traditionally tight restrictions on foreign direct investment have been relaxed, explaining the rather sudden growth since the late 1990s. On the other hand, given China’s ability to attract foreign direct investment, it is worth noting that Canadian firms seem not to have been very active participants.

Source: Adapted from the Statistics Canada CANSIM database http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca , CANSIM Table 376-0051, October 5, 2011; the Statistics Canada Website on the National Economic Accounts module, http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.pgm?Lang=E&RootDir=CII/&ARRAY_VREL=3760051&PortalID=3764&ResultTemplate=V3764 , October 5, 2011; 1980 figures are adapted from Statistics Canada, Canada’s International Investment Position, 2001, Catalogue No. 67-202-XIB 2001000 2001 March 27, 2002.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or re-disseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its toll-free number 1-800-263-1136 and its website: www.statcan.ca.

Notes: 1. Data used to produce this chart reflect the stock of foreign direct investment in Asia held by Canadians. Stock refers to the magnitude of investment that has accumulated over time, as opposed to the flow of new investment made in a given period. Data for the Middle East, which Statistics Canada includes in its Asia/Oceania aggregate, are not refected in this chart. The choice of countries represented in the chart relects the data reported by Statistics Canada. Data are collected by survey, and where there are relatively few investors from a particular country, data are not reported by country to respect the confidential nature of the survey.
2. ’ - ’ indicates that either the data is confidential or not available.