International Investment Position, Australia: Supplementary Statistics

Australia's net international liability position as at 31 December 2018 was $975.7b, an increase of $6.9b on the previous year.

The level of foreign investment in Australia reached $3,514.4b for the year ended 31 December 2018, an increase of $187.1b (6%) on the previous year. Portfolio investment accounted for $1,836.3b (52%), direct investment for $967.5b (28%), other investment for $508.0b (14%) and financial derivatives $202.6b (6%). Of the portfolio investment liabilities, debt securities accounted for $1,287.6b (37% of foreign investment in Australia) and equity securities for $548.7b (16% of foreign investment in Australia).

The leading investor countries for the year ended 31 December 2018 were:

• United States of America $939.5b (27%)
• United Kingdom $574.8b (16%)
• Belgium $316.9b (9%)
• Japan $229.3b (7%)
• Hong Kong (SAR of China) $118.8b (3%)
• Singapore $85.4b (2%).

The level of Australian investment abroad reached $2,538.8b for the year ended 31 December 2018, an increase of $180.2b (8%) on the previous year. Portfolio investment accounted for $1,124.8b (44%), direct investment for $695.6b (27%), other investment for $439.7b (17%), financial derivatives for $197.2b (8%) and reserve assets for $81.5b (3%). Of the portfolio investment assets, equity securities accounted for $713.0b (28% of Australian investment abroad) and debt securities $411.7b (16% of Australian investment abroad).

The leading investment destination countries for the year ended 31 December 2018 were:

• United States of America $718.9b (28%)
• United Kingdom $408.0b (16%)
• Japan $113.0b (4%)
• New Zealand $96.7b (4%)
• Cayman Islands $77.5b (3%)
• Germany $77.3b (3%).

The financial account for the year ended 31 December 2018 recorded a net inflow of $45.2b. This result is a decrease of $1.1b on a net inflow of $46.3b recorded for the previous year.

Foreign investment in Australia recorded a net inflow of $37.0b for the year ended 31 December 2018, an increase of $1.7b (5%) on the net inflow of $35.3b for the previous year.

Leading countries recording net inflows during 2018 were:

• France $19.4b
• United Kingdom $18.3b
• Belgium $15.3b.
   

Partly offsetting these, net outflows were recorded for the following countries:

• United States of America $10.6b
• Switzerland $7.7b
• Taiwan $5.7b.

Australian investment abroad recorded a net inflow of $8.2b for the year ended 31 December 2018, a decrease of $2.8b (26%) on the net inflow of $11.0b for the previous year.

Leading countries recording net inflows during 2018 were:

• Japan $19.0b
• United Kingdom $17.4b
• Switzerland $8.9b.

Partly offsetting these, net outflows were recorded for the following countries:

• United States of America $13.6b
• Canada $11.2b
• Cayman Islands $7.7b.

Income debits totalled $117.5b for the year ended 31 December 2018, an increase of $15.9b on income debits from the previous year. The main countries to which income accrued for the year ended 31 December 2018 were:

• United States of America $28.3b (24%)
• United Kingdom $13.9b (12%)
• Japan $11.8b (10%)
• Belgium $7.7b (7%)
• Bermuda $4.0b (3%)
• Netherlands $3.5b (3%).

Income credits totalled $61.4b for the year ended 31 December 2018, an increase of $9.1b on income credits from the previous year. The main countries from which income accrued for the year ended 31 December 2018 were:

• United States of America $16.4b (27%)
• New Zealand $5.5b (9%)
• United Kingdom $4.5b (7%)
• Germany $2.2b (4%)
• China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) $2.1b (3%)
• Netherlands $1.5b (2%).

There are six countries that have name changes in this year's publication:

The following country name changes reflected in the above table and result in changing of country order are:

• "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)" to "North Macedonia";
• "Swaziland" to "Eswatini";

The other minor name changes won't impact the country order.

This issue includes data from the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER). member nations of PACER are Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Federated States of, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Revisions include incorporation of new estimates from the latest survey and administrative data which has resulted in revisions to International Investment data back to calendar year 2014. A review of confidentiality has resulted in suppression of some data cell contents from 2001 to 2017.

Discrepancies may occur between totals in this publication and the same aggregates from other sources, and between sums of component items and totals due to rounding.

The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS would handle any personal information that you provide to us.

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or International Accounts in Canberra at international.accounts@abs.gov.au.