Annual publication on the evolution of foreign direct investment liabilities in companies in the country, in force from 2004 to 2016.

These statistics were based on the information obtained in the Survey of Direct Investments in resident companies provided by Communication A4237 and complementary ones, which was replaced by the Survey of External Assets and Liabilities established by Communication A6401 based on the information for 2017.

Executive Summary

Net inflows from foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled US$ 12,242 million in 2013, an amount that represented 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This amount marked a slight decrease compared to the record entered the previous year.

The main components of FDI in 2013 were income from new contributions of US$ 5,180 million and the reinvestment of profits of US$ 5,937 million. Although in both cases the amounts declared were below the values of the previous year, both represented the second highest recorded in the series.

Financing granted by the parent companies and subsidiaries totaled a net income of US$ 1,259 million, mainly originated by record income from new financial debt from the mining sector, while flows from share transfers resulted in a net outflow of US$ 135 million, reversing the growing trend of purchases by residents from non-resident FDI investors that began in 2009.

The income generated by FDI reached US$ 10,907 million in 2013, with a year-on-year decrease of 6%. The return on capital measured on equity reached a ratio of 15% per annum, a rate slightly lower than that of the previous year. The oil sector turned out to be the main recipient of direct investments in the year, with net revenues of US$ 2,755 million, mainly due to the increase in contributions directed to new projects in companies in the sector that exceeded US$ 1,000 million, and again financing received from related companies.

Mining companies showed revenues of US$ 2,613 million, a drop in net flows of almost 50% compared to the previous year’s estimates. This result was the result of lower reinvestment by companies in the sector and the drop in new contributions.

As of December 31, 2013, the estimated gross passive position of FDI in Argentine companies reached a value of US$ 92,778 million, with a year-on-year decrease in the currency of account of 7%2. Since the beginning of the series at the end of 2004, the passive FDI position registered an increase of US$ 35,415 million, 60%.

Of the estimated position at the end of the year, US$ 62,108 million (67%) corresponded to shares in the value of the net worth (NP) of the companies, and US$ 30,671 million (33%) to gross indebtedness of NFPS FDI companies with their parent companies and/or subsidiaries abroad.

At the end of 2013, 42% of the stock of direct investments in Argentine companies was concentrated in the industry and agriculture sector (US$ 38,881 million), followed in importance by investments in the services sector, including the financial sector, with 29% (US$ 27,132 million), while the exploitation of natural resources registered the remaining 29% (US$ 26,765 million).

For the first time in the series that began in 2004, the United States was the main origin of FDI in the country, with a stock of US$ 19,147 million, which represented 21% of total holdings at the end of 2013 and a year-on-year increase of 3%. Oil companies originating in the United States were the ones that increased their stock the most.

Spain, after the third consecutive year of decline in the stock of FDI, ceased to be the main investor at the end of 2013, with 18% of total holdings and a stock of almost US$ 17,000 million (fall of 14% year-on-year).

As in the previous year, at the end of 2013 there was a high degree of concentration of FDI stock in a small number of companies. In this regard, out of a total of more than 3,200 FDI companies reporting, the top 10 accounted for 21% of the total stock.