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<P>Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the viewpoint of the Balance of Payments and the
International Investment Position (IIP) share a same conceptual framework given by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Balance of Payments is a statistical statement that
systematically summarises, for a specific time span, the economic transactions of an
economy with the rest of the world (transactions between residents and non-residents) and
the IIP compiles for a specific date, such as the end of a year, the value of the stock of each
financial asset and liability as defined in the standard components of the Balance of
Payments.
We will not deal in this note with other relevant statistical concepts for operations overseas,
particularly for financial institutions, such as exposure (foreign claims, international claims,
etc.), which belong to the realm of the BIS statistics.3
Sections 2, 3 and 4 give an overview of FDI definitions, concepts and recommendations
adopted by the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual (5th Edition, 1993) and by the OECD’s
Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (3rd Edition, 1996). Both provide
operational guidance and detailed international standards for recording flows and stocks
related to FDI. Section 5 gives a quick overview of trends in FDI inward flows and stocks for
the period 1980-2001. Section 6 reports on onward FDI flows for Spain, with particular
attention to the financial sector. Finally a brief description of the main available sources of
FDI is found in an annex.
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