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

Direct Investment Methodology: Latest SIMSDI Metadata

The SIMSDI is designed to provide standardized information on the compilation and methodological practices of the IMF member countries. Information on these practices (the so-called "metadata") is considered to be essential for efficient bilateral comparisons of data on foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as meaningful cross-country comparisons.

The information on the outcome of the SIMSDI surveys are available in two formats:

Individual Country Metadata for those countries that have agreed to make the information on their practices available to the general public. The information is organized by the four relevant datasets: (i) balance of payments (transactions) data on FDI in the country, (ii) position (stock) data on FDI in the country, (iii) balance of payments (transactions) data on FDI abroad, and (iv) position (stock) data on FDI abroad. These metadata also include statements as to whether countries' practices are in accordance with, or contrary to, the international standards. These statements are judgments made by the IMF staff.

Cross-Country Comparison Tables, which set out information for each of the countries that have agreed to their information being made available to the general public. The information in these tables is organized by topic, such as the definition of direct investment enterprises, or the availability of data showing a geographic breakdown.

The SIMSDI survey does not contain any FDI data. FDI data are published in the Fund's International Finance Statistics and the Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook, as well as in the OECD's International Direct Investment Statistics Yearbook. The latter also publishes geographic and sectoral breakdowns for the OECD countries.

Metadata on the 2003 SIMSDI Survey

Information on the outcome of the 2003 SIMSDI Survey is available only in the format of individual country metadata at present.

Individual Country Metadata for 54 countries are available at present

Metadata on the 2001 Update of the SIMSDI Survey

Information on the outcome of the 2001 SIMSDI update are available in two formats:

Individual Country Metadata for the 56 countries that participated in the 2001 SIMSDI update and agreed to make the information on their practices available to the general public.

Cross-Country Comparison Tables, which set out the 2001 information for each of the 56 countries that agreed to their information being made available to the general public.

In addition, the summary metadata for those 5 countries that participated in the 2001 SIMSDI update but chose not to make the information available to the general public, is available on request to balance of payments compilers at national agencies, and to staff of international organizations. Requests for the metadata should be e-mailed to the IMF at fdi@imf.org, giving information on the name, position, and organization of the person making the request.