Outward direct investment generated SEK 50 billion in 1995

At end 1995 Swedish direct investment assets abroad totalled SEK 476 billion. The return on this stock in 1995 was SEK 50 billion. The stock of foreign direct investment assets in Sweden at end 1995 totalled SEK 203 billion and the total return was 28 billion.

These figures come from a Riksbank survey of direct investment companies and their returns that is being published today.

The returns on direct investment assets, Swedish as well as foreign, are the highest recorded in these surveys, which began in 1986.

The Riksbank's annual direct investment surveys cover investments that are equivalent to at least 10 per cent of the company's ordinary shares or voting power or are undertaken to secure an effective voice in the company's management. The results are used in the compilation of the current account of the balance of payments and in the presentation of Sweden's total external assets and liabilities.

The returns on inward and outward direct investment are booked in the current account under investment income. Pending the outcome of a survey, the Riksbank reports preliminary figures. Compared with figures published earlier, the result of the present survey improves the balance on current account for 1995 by SEK 1 billion.

The Riksbank has made an international comparison of direct investment assets for 1994 expressed as a percentage of each country's GDP. The results show that for outward direct investment, Sweden was the third largest country in the OECD area, while for inward direct investment Sweden came seventh.

Copies of the direct investment report in Swedish are available in the Riksbank entrance at No. 7, Malmskillnadsgatan. The report can also be ordered from the Riksbank's Information Centre, phone: +46 8-787 01 00; fax: +46 8-787 05 26.
An English edition will be available shortly.

For further information please phone:

Maria Falk phone +46 8 787 03 68
Mikael Holmberg phone +46 8 787 02 12
Kajsa Lindell phone +46 8 787 02 07.
SVERIGES RIKSBANK