Increased foreign investment into Ireland

The level of foreign direct investment into Ireland increased during 2012 by €33 billion, with the bulk of the money coming by way of the Netherlands (€22 billion) and Asia (€5 billion), according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The Irish stock of direct investment abroad (ie investment abroad by Irish-based entities) increased by €32 billion, mainly as a result of investments in companies in offshore islands in the Caribbean (€13 billion) and in Europe (€10 billion), mainly the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The net position at the end of 2012 was a surplus of €31 billion, unchanged from the net position at the end of 2012.

The level of direct investment abroad at the end of 2012 was €288 billion, while the level of total foreign direct investment into Ireland was €258 billion.

Investment abroad by enterprises located in Ireland was mainly into the services sector, where the level of investment increased by €29 billion by the end of 2012. More than half of this, €64 per cent, was into the EU.

The largest sector for inward investment was financial intermediation (€113 billion), which comprised 44 per cent of the total stock of inward investment at the end of 2012.