Mallika Kelkar
Statistics New Zealand
info@stats.govt.nz

Abstract

The Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistics provide information about immediate foreign investment into New Zealand. This paper presents a study that investigated where foreign direct investment into New Zealand ultimately came from, in the March 2010 quarter, by identifying the ultimate parents of the companies directly investing in New Zealand. The results were then compared with the last study on the same topic in 2005.

The study considered total foreign direct investment as well as the two types of investment: equity capital and other capital. The investment data was analysed by country then aggregated by continent and various country groupings. The results focus on comparing the levels of immediate investment from countries to levels of ultimate investment allocated to countries. The method used to find the ultimate source was the method proposed by Eurostat in 2005.

The study found that different countries had different ways of moving investments through countries in the March 2010 quarter. There was a large difference between the ultimate and immediate investment from the Netherlands, while countries like Australia and Japan had consistent levels of investment. Tax havens were confirmed to be generally immediate investors of New Zealand rather than ultimate investors.

 The Ultimate Sources of Foreign Direct Investment  (PDF, 290kb)