Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland 2015

_{A rounding error was corrected in Figure 1.1 (03/05/17)}

Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual, National Income and Expenditure Annual

Get the data: StatBank BPA34, StatBank N1505

A Globalised Economy

Foreign Direct Investment is a category of cross-border investment made by a resident entity in one economy (the direct investor) with the objective of establishing a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in an economy other than that of the direct investor (the direct investment enterprise). The lasting interest of a direct investor is quantitatively defined as the ownership of 10%, or more, of the voting rights in the direct investment enterprise. The OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment, 4^th Edition (BMD4) prescribes a number of indicators which indicate the extent of globalisation of an economy. The following metrics allow for cross-country comparisons based on the relative importance of FDI.

Figure 1.2 and 1.3 display: i) Inward FDI positions in reporting economies; and ii) inward flows expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices. As these measures focus on the investment into an economy, they indicate the extent of foreign ownership (or presence) in an economy. A brief examination of these figures reveals that there is significant FDI into Ireland, and that consequently, Ireland is one of the world’s most globalised economies.

Get the data: OECD Stat

Get the data: OECD Stat

Figure 1.4 shows that the top 25 enterprises receive a significant majority of the FDI into Ireland. These enterprises receive 71% of the FDI recorded for the country. This indicates that the presence of multinational corporations in Ireland is dominated by several large firms.

It can also be seen in Figure 1.1 that the Irish FDI position abroad is higher than the FDI position in Ireland. This is to a large extent influenced by the presence of Redomiciled PLCs in the Irish Balance of Payments (PDF 183KB) . Figure 1.5 shows that these companies now own more than half of Irish FDI stock abroad.

^{A rounding error was corrected in Figure 1.5 12/05/2017}

Source Publication: Redomiciled PLCs in the Irish Balance of Payments (PDF 183KB)

The direct investment figures depicted on this publication's infographic were presented according to the location of the Ultimate Controlling Parent in order to conceptually align FDI statistics with the employment and wage statistics. The FDI positions of the top ultimate investing countries is offered in Figure 1.6. The investment stock from Ireland as ultimate investor, at €105bn, primarily represents former US-based corporate inversion enterprises (redomiciled PLCs) which are now located in Ireland.

Get the data:  StatBank BPQ26 

Source Publication: Foreign Direct Investment Annual

FDI in Ireland

This publication presents further data and information on the role of FDI is playing in the Irish economy. The next chapter in this publication focuses on the return on FDI. This indicator provides information regarding the profitability of the investments of direct investment enterprises. The chapter displays breakdowns by the prominent investing countries and sectors. The subsequent chapter presents data on employment created by FDI enterprises. Again, this data is broken down by geography and NACE sector to provide more detail to the user. FDI associated employment figures are complemented by the fourth chapter, which presents average annual wages paid by enterprises owned by certain countries or operating in certain sectors. It will also compare these wages to the average wage paid in Irish owned MNCs and to a domestic average wage. Chapter five presents quarterly FDI; as published in the Quarterly Balance of Payments release and in the Quarterly International Investment Position release. Unlike other chapters in this publication, this chapter offers data as at Q4 2016. Lastly, the value of Greenfield FDI projects is estimated in the final chapter. Greenfield FDI is related to the creation of subsidiaries which are entirely new. Greenfield FDI is distinct from three other forms of FDI: cross-border M&A, extension of capital, and financial restructuring.