International and national statistics on foreign direct investment World Investment Report (WIR)

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop-
ment (UNCTAD) publishes the World Investment Report
(WIR) each year (usually in July) on current trends in global
investment flows and positions. The information accessed
detailed data on global FDI inflows and outflows as well as
on global FDI stock (UNCTAD 2016a). The definition of FDI
underlying the WIR largely corresponds to the definition of
the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Develop-
ment (OECD) : cross-border investment with the obj ective
of obtaining a lasting interest and control.

A controlling interest is normally available to investors holding at least
ten percent of a foreign company (UNCTAD 2016b: 3; 79).
The FDI data in WIR is mainly based on national statistics
produced by each country. For historical data, in particular,
the report also draws on data held by other international
organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or
the World Bank or on estimates (cf. UNCTAD 2016b: 22).
The WIR offers, among others, the advantage of having
far-reaching historical data; for example, data on Chinese
FDI dating back to 1982.

This allows the tracing of histori –
cal developments. The WIR does not provide country-spe-
cific breakdowns, e. G. By sector. This information can be
found in Chinese and German national statistics.