Singapore's 2008 overseas investment down by $18.4bln

Country's direct investment and portfolio investment abroad slid down into negative territory.

Singapore's corporate sector saw their total investment abroad declined from $649.0 billion as at end 2007 to $630.6 billion as at end 2008, according to Singapore's Investment Abroad 2008 released by Singapore Department of Statistics.

Total investment abroad consists of three components - direct investment, portfolio investment and other foreign assets. The largest component was direct investment, which contributed to about 47.3 percent (or $298.1 billion) of total investment abroad.

Portfolio investment and other foreign assets accounted for 25.5 percent (or $160.6 billion) and 27.3 percent (or $171.9 billion) of total overseas investment respectively.

Both stock of direct investment (-5.2 percent) and portfolio investment (-11.5 percent) declined in 2008, while stock of other foreign assets recorded double digit growth (12.3 percent).

The stock of direct investment abroad stood at $298.1 billion as at end 2008, lower than the $314.5 billion recorded as at end 2007.

Total portfolio investment declined from $181.5 billion as at end 2007 to $160.6 billion as at end 2008. Both stock of quoted and unquoted shares as well as debt securities contracted in 2008.

Other foreign assets stood at $171.9 billion as at end 2008. Majority of these investments were in the form of money deposits held abroad (46.7 percent) and loans granted to non-affiliates (41.2 percent).

Direct investments by Singapore enterprises were predominantly in the financial & insurance services and manufacturing sectors.

About $149.6 billion (or 50.2 percent) of Singapore's direct investment abroad were in financial & insurance services while manufacturing sector attracted direct investment of about $72.6 billion (24.4 percent) from Singapore. Wholesale & retail trade, information & communications and real estate, rental & leasing services sectors account for about 4.6 – 5.4 percent of overseas direct investment each.

In terms of geographical distribution, Asia, which hosted about 53.2 percent (or $158.5 billion) of total direct investment abroad, remained the top destination for Singapore direct investors. Other regions with significant investment from Singapore were South and Central America and the Caribbean (17.3 percent) and Europe (13.2 percent).

The major host economies of Singapore’s direct investment in Asia were China ($48.3 billion), Malaysia ($24.3 billion), Hong Kong ($20.7 billion), Thailand ($18.8 billon) and Indonesia ($18.3 billion).

Singapore’s investment in China were predominantly in manufacturing (57.5 percent of Singapore’s direct investment in China or $27.8 billion) and real estate, rental and leasing (15.3 percent or $7.4 billion). While financial & insurance services (51.4 percent or $12.5 billion) and manufacturing (32.0 percent or $7.8 billion) attracted the bulk of Singapore’s investment in Malaysia, Singapore investors in Hong Kong were mainly in financial & insurance services ($14.0 billion) and wholesale & retail trade ($4.3 billion).

Singapore’s stock of direct investment in Europe amounted to $39.4 billion as at end 2008. United Kingdom ($25.1 billion), Switzerland ($4.6 billion) and Netherlands ($3.3 billion) were major European destinations of Singapore’s direct investment abroad. Our investment in United Kingdom were concentrated in financial & insurance services sector ($20.4 billion).

About $17.2 billion of overseas direct investment was recorded for Australia, with investment mainly in financial & insurance services (49.7 percent or $8.6 billion) and information & communications (22.8 percent or $3.9 billion) sectors. United States attracted about $14.9 billion of investment, concentrating in manufacturing (58.2 percent or $8.7 billion) and financial & insurance services (20.3 percent or $3.5 billion) sectors.