Press Release No. 13/230

Press Release: IMF Releases Revised Results and Expands Coordinated Direct Investment Survey to 100 Economies

June 25, 2013

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today released revised results for 2009-2011 from its Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS), the Fund’s worldwide survey of bilateral foreign direct investment positions.¹ The survey has been conducted annually since 2009, with revised data released semiannually. The coverage of foreign direct investment positions has been expanded to 100 participating economies for 2011. The four new CDIS participants are Albania, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Togo. The preliminary results of the CDIS for end-2012 are expected to be released in December 2013.

The database—available publicly at http://cdis.imf.org and through the IMF e-library—presents detailed data on “inward” direct investment (i.e., direct investment positions with a nonresident foreign direct investor) cross-classified by economy of investor, and data on “outward” direct investment (i.e., direct investment positions abroad by a resident foreign direct investor) cross-classified by economy of investment. All participants in the CDIS provided data on inward direct investment and most participants (about two-thirds) also provided data on outward direct investment.

The CDIS database contains breakdowns of direct investment positions including, in most instances, separate data on net equity and net debt positions, as well as tables that present “mirror” data, in which data from the reporting economy are shown side-by-side with the data obtained from all other counterpart reporting economies. Mirror data may be compared to an economy’s own estimates vis-à-vis the counterpart. Mirror data are useful in highlighting data gaps or errors, and therefore where follow up efforts may prove beneficial. The CDIS website also allows users access to metadata reports.

¹ Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment where a resident in one economy has control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise resident in another economy. The CDIS supports the objective of developing from–whom–to–whom cross border data, contributing to a better understanding of financial interconnectedness.