According to preliminary results, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the European Union (EU) to the rest of the world amounted to €186 billion in 2016, a sharp drop (-68%) compared with the €585 bn recorded in 2015, Eurostat reported.

In the opposite direction, investment from the rest of the world into the EU stood at €280 bn, down by 41% compared with 2015 (€476 bn).

As a long-standing key partner, the United States was principally behind the overall decrease in FDI flows in 2016. The EU recorded a net disinvestment by its resident entities on the US market in 2016 (-€94 bn, compared with +€352 bn in 2015). Meanwhile, US direct investors significantly reduced (-76%) their net acquisitions within the EU, from €223 bn in 2015 to €54 bn in 2016.

A notable net disinvestment by EU companies was also registered in 2016 with Canada (-€17 bn) and, to a lesser extent, Russia (-€6 bn). As a result, Brazil was the main beneficiary of EU FDI (€33 bn) in 2016, ahead of Switzerland (€21 bn) and offshore financial centres* (€14 bn).

As for inward flows, the two main investors into the EU in 2016 were Switzerland (€55 bn) and the United States (€54 bn), followed at a distance by offshore financial centres* (€36 bn), Japan (€28 bn) and Canada (€20 bn)

Read more.

Look also at the recently published OECD investment statistics.