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Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2022

Foreign direct investment in Ireland rose by €26bn in 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-6747
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Foreign direct investment in Ireland rose by €26bn to €1,284bn in 2022.

  • Increased investment in equity and reinvested earnings of €72bn was offset by decreases in other capital investment of €46bn.

  • Irish investment abroad declined by €190bn to €1,125bn.

  • Investment in Europe fell by €138bn, while investment in the United States was up by €8bn.

  • The services sector remained the largest sector for inward investment to Ireland in 2022, with €749bn investment that amounted to 58% of total investment.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (17 January 2024) published the Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2022 release.

Commenting on the release, Faris Bader, Statistician in the International Accounts Division said:

The growth in foreign direct investment in Ireland of €26bn to €1,284bn is largely attributed to increased investment from the US, which was offset by decreased investment from other countries. This increase in investment is seen almost entirely in the manufacturing sector, predominantly in pharmaceuticals, which grew by €31bn. A rise of €21bn in financial intermediation was offset by declines in investment in other services sectors. Meanwhile, Irish foreign direct investment abroad fell by €190bn to €1,125bn, with investment in Luxembourg and Asia down by €109bn and €43bn respectively. The decline in Irish foreign direct investment abroad is seen predominantly in the services sector.”

Please be advised that changes have been made to the publication today 18/01/2024 since original publication date namely:

In MAP 1 Direct Investment Abroad the figure for Korea Democratic Peoples Republic of has changed from original figure of 191M to 0.

Also in Table 1 Footnote 3 the original text of EU 28 has been amended to EU27.  

 

Foreign Direct Investment Annual€ million
 20212022
Flows - Abroad 47,4708,920
Flows - In Ireland -3,324-23,798
Positions - Abroad - end year 1,315,2131,125,180
Positions - In Ireland - end year 1,257,4231,283,665
Positions - Net - end year57,790-158,485
Net Income Flows-100,743-133,582
X-axis labelInwardOutward
20211257.4231315.213
20221283.6651125.18

Irish stocks of direct investment abroad decreased to €1,125bn at the end of 2022 from a stock position of €1,315bn at the end of 2021.

The stock of direct investment abroad at the end of 2022 comprised of Equity Capital & Reinvested Earnings of €1,198bn and the withdrawal of Other Capital of -€73bn. The increase in Other Capital positions (€19bn) was offset by a decrease in Equity Capital & Reinvested Earnings (-€209bn). The increase in Other Capital positions was mostly attributable to an increase in investment in the Americas of €44bn, which was offset by decreases in investment elsewhere. The decrease in Equity Capital and Reinvested Earnings positions was attributed to a decrease in investment in Luxembourg of -€103bn and in the Asia of -€43bn. For the data breakdowns, see Table 3.

The stock of direct investment in Ireland increased between the end of 2021 and end of 2022 - from €1,257bn to €1,284bn. Increased investment from the US and Asia of €55bn and €14bn respectively were offset by decreases in investment elsewhere - Table 4.

Ireland had net foreign liabilities of €158bn at the end of 2022, a decrease of €216bn on the net foreign assets of €58bn at the end 2021.

X-axis labelUnited StatesOtherOffshore CentresUKLuxembourgSwitzerland
2022492.48266.899232.44327.587136.736127.52
X-axis labelUnited StatesIrelandOtherOffshore CentresUnited KingdomFrance
2022921.1305920583256.24872100884188.3906698062750.58543.80322648323.50586164537

 

Direct investment positions by immediate and ultimate investor

In line with international recommendations the geographic allocation of direct investment flows and stocks in Tables 1 to 9 is based on the country of location of the immediate owner of the direct investment enterprise.

An alternative presentation of the stock of direct investment in Ireland by ultimate investor displays a different geographic pattern. Figure 2 presents the value of investment stock in Ireland by location of the immediate owner (of the direct investment enterprise).  Figure 3 presents the value of investment stock in Ireland by location of the ultimate investor. In 2022, the stock of investment from the US as ultimate investor at €921bn was €429bn greater than the stock of US investment presented by immediate owner (€492bn). This difference indicates that while a great deal of investment into Ireland comes directly from our European counter parts, this investment originates from enterprises located in the US.

Investment stock from Ireland as ultimate investor at €56bn primarily represents former US-based corporate inversion enterprises which are now located in Ireland (see figure 3).

For further analysis on FDI, that explores its impact on the Irish economy with respect to employment, wages and regional breakdowns, see the FDI in Ireland publication. This research publication also contains numerous statistics based on the location of the ultimate investor, pass-through FDI and round-tripping FDI.

Investment flows

Flows of direct investment into Ireland amounted to -€24bn in 2022: Reinvested earnings flows of €79bn were offset by equity and other capital flows of -€69bn and -€34bn respectively. The total flows of FDI into Ireland were largely attributable to flows to Central America that amounted to -€30bn, which contributed to total offshore centres flows of -€48bn - see Table 2.

X-axis labelBelgiumUKOffshore CentresNetherlandsLuxembourgOther
Flows8.9151.02-47.5078.375.52-1.503
X-axis labelTotalEuropeUS
2015196.36379.97676.457
201635.60796.488-55.433
201746.77101.238-53.064
2018-10.176-154.91374.256
2019133.48567.936-105.339
20209034
2021-3.324-4.423-51.502
2022-23.7982.4081.387

Please note: The Inward FDI flow for US in year 2020 is suppressed due to confidentiality requirements. 

In 2015, the flow of direct investment into Ireland increased by €196bn mainly due to increased investment from Europe (€80bn) and the US (€76bn). This increase in 2015 pertains to the financing of intellectual property as well as the onshoring of other assets. In years 2021 and 2022, flows of direct investment into Ireland amounted to -€3bn and -€24bn respectively. - see Table 2.

Direct investment abroad amounted to €9bn in 2022, compared to €47bn in 2021. Decreases in equity investments abroad of €52bn were offset by increases in reinvested earnings abroad and other capital investments abroad of €29bn and €32bn respectively - see Table 1.

Sectoral breakdown

Investment abroad by enterprises located in Ireland is primarily in the services sector – an investment position of €864bn at the end of 2022 is down €164bn compared to the position at the end of 2021 (€1,028bn). The stock of services sector investment into the EU was €471bn (55% of total services sector investment). Investment abroad from the manufacturing sector amounted to €234bn, down €17bn on the position at the end of 2021 (€250bn) - see table 7.

The services sector is also the largest sector for inward investment - at the end of 2022, the investment position was €749bn, down €4bn from the position at the end of 2021 (€753bn). The investment position in financial intermediation increased from €305bn at end of 2021 to €326bn at end of 2022. Investment in administrative and support activities decreased from €103bn in 2021 to €92bn in 2022. Investment in the manufacturing sector increased by €30bn to a stock position of €534bn in the same period - see Table 8.

X-axis labelManufacturingServices
In Ireland533.501748.841
Abroad233.707863.812

Direct investment income

Income outflows of foreign owned direct investment enterprises were €169bn in 2022, an increase of €32bn compared with 2021. Earnings of European owned companies were €57bn in 2022, down €161m from 2021. Income earned abroad by investors located in Ireland was €35bn in 2022, down €1bn from 2021. The income earned abroad was predominantly from Luxembourg (€14bn), the Netherlands (€4bn) and the UK (€3bn) - see Table 9.

Table 1 Direct Investment Flows Abroad Classified by Location of Investment

Table 2 Direct Investment Flows into Ireland Classified by Location of Investor

Table 3 Direct Investment Abroad End Year Positions Classified by Location of Investment

Table 4 Direct Investment in Ireland End Year Positions Classified by Location of Investor

Table 5 Direct Investment Flows Abroad Classified by Activity of Resident Investor

Table 6 Direct Investment Flows into Ireland Classified by Activity of Resident Enterprise

Table 7 Direct Investment Abroad End Year Positions Classified by Activity of Resident Investor

Table 8 Direct Investment in Ireland End Year Positions Classified by Activity of Resident Enterprise

Table 9 Direct Investment Income Flows Classified by Geographic Location of Creditor/Debtor

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