Maltese have €1.3 billion invested overseas

Foreign direct investment into the country last year remained practically level with that registered in 2010 and in fact grew by just €2.7 million, or 0.02 per cent, over the whole of 2011 according to figures released by the National Statistics Office yesterday.

While, at €12.52 billion, 2011’s FDI levels had changed very little from those of 2010, the figure is still nearly double the €6.53 billion registered at the end of 2009.

Maltese businesses and individuals, meanwhile, had a total of €1.27 billion invested overseas at the end of last year. The figure is €700,000 lower than that registered at the end of 2010.

Investments in financial portfolios is a different story and a total of €17.2 billion was invested in overseas financial instruments at the end of last year, €1.59 billion more than at the end of 2010, and €4.7 billion more than at the end of 2009. The vast majority of that, €16.3 billion, was invested in debt securities such as bonds, notes and money market instruments. The remainder, €868 million was invested in equities.

As for the incoming Maltese financial market, foreign investment in Malta-based portfolios stood at €452.5 million, down from the €486.6 million and €502.2 million registered in 2010 and 2009 respectively. Again, the vast majority of that investment, €329.2 million, was invested in debt securities.