Direct Investment Methodology Home Page

Latest SIMSDI
Metadata

Forms

Reports

Other Direct Investment Topics

The Recommended Treatment of Selected Direct Investment Transactions

Classification of Financial Derivatives Involving Affiliated Enterprises in the Balance of Payments Statistics and the International Investment Position (IIP) Statement (231 kb PDF file), 2002

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: How Countries Measure FDI

Foreign Direct Investment Trends and Statistics (paper for Executive Board seminar)

Foreign Direct Investment Trends and Statistics: A Summary (paper for Executive Board seminar)

Other Selected Publications and Documents

See Also:

Balance of Payments Home Page

Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB): metadata on SDDS and GDDS data categories

External Debt Statistics: debt data, conference on capital flows and debt statistics, final draft Guide for Compilers and Users, and other selected publications



World Map Direct Investment Methodology: SIMSDI Survey: Background

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The Joint IMF/OECD Survey of Implementation of Methodological Standards for Direct Investment (SIMSDI)

In May 1997, the IMF and OECD launched the Survey of Implementation of Methodological Standards for Direct Investment (SIMSDI), after consulting with the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (the Committee) and the OECD Working Party on Financial Statistics (WFS). The survey is a comprehensive study of data sources, collection methods, and dissemination and methodological practices for foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics. Similar surveys were conducted in 1983 by the OECD covering OECD member countries, and in 1991 by the IMF's Working Party on Measurement of International Capital Flows (Godeaux Report).

A total of 114 countries replied to the 1997 survey, a very encouraging response indicating the importance that national compilers attach to these data. A report on the extent to which participating countries had adopted the international standards for compiling and reporting FDI statistics at that point in time was released in 2000.

The 1997 Survey was updated in 2001 for 61 countries (the 30 OECD member countries and 31 selected non-OECD countries). A report on the outcome of the 2001 update was posted on this website in October 2003. The report will include comparative tables showing the practices of the 56 countries that have agreed to release their information to the general public—including all 30 OECD member countries as well as summary information for the remaining 5 countries that chose not to make their detailed information available to the general public.

The 1997 SIMSDI survey was updated in 2001 for 61 countries (the 30 OECD member countries and 31 selected non-OECD countries. Summary metadata that provide detailed information on the compilation practices, data sources, and methodology used by the individual countries in 2001, and indicate whether those practices are in accordance with the international recommendations are available on this website for each of the 56 countries that agreed to release their information to the general public. The metadata for the remaining five countries are available only to balance of payments compilers and staff of international organizations.

The joint IMF/OECD report on the outcome of the 2001 SIMSDI update was published in October 2003 as Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: How Countries Measure FDI and is available in PDF format on this website. The report includes summary tables indicating the practices in 2001 and changes since the 1997 SIMSDI survey for OECD and non-OECD countries, as well as cross-country comparison tables for the participating countries (by country for the 56 countries that agreed to make their information available to the general public, and in summary form for the remaining five countries).

A new SIMSDI survey was conducted by the IMF and OECD at the end of 2003. Metadata are being posted on the IMF website. The website on the SIMSDI survey is divided into three sections: The website on the SIMSDI survey is divided into three sections: