Inward Foreign Direct Investment

The stock of foreign direct investment in Canada has more than tripled since 1990. Despite the rapid growth, today’s inward investment profile looks slightly different than it did 20 years ago, at least insofar as source regions are concerned. For example, the proportion of the total accounted for by Europe has steadly increased from 28% to 31%. The United States’ share is decreasing, from 64% to 55%, while Asia’s share has increased slightly from 6% to 8%. In contrast to the outward investment picture, where Other North America represents about 19% of total investment stocks in 2010, inward investment from Other North America accounts for only 0.9% of the total. However, there is an important similarity between the inward and outward stocks – Barbados and Bermuda are Canada’s two largest source countries in Other North America, with both accounting for much larger investments than does Mexico.

Adapted from the Statistics Canada CANSIM database http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca , CANSIM Table 376-0051, October 6, 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 6, 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 period.
* 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, has been included instead in the ‘Other Regions’ category.

2010 was another good year for inward investment from Asia as the stock of FDI increased 4%. While Japan has traditionally provided the bulk of Asian direct investment stock in Canada, FDI stock from China increased 1,415% between 2005 and 2010 (China’s FDI stock in 2005 was $928 million). It is worth noting that Indian and South Korean direct investment stock in Canada reached $6.5 billion and $2.8 billion in 2010 respectively, which exceeded Canada’s direct investment in India of $492 million and $404 million in South Korea. In 2010, investors from Australia, China, Japan and South Korea accounted for 83% of the increase in investment stock from Asia.

Source: Adapted from the Statistics Canada CANSIM database http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca, CANSIM Table 376-0051, October 6, 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 6, 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 Canada held by nationals of the listed Asian countries. 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.