Inward investment from the 15 countries in the European Union continued to rise since 2001 and by the end of 2003 was almost two thirds (€113.960 billion) of the overall FDI in the country at €171.943 billion, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office today.
Dutch investment accounted for just over €60 billion in the last two years and exceeded the combined amounts from the EU countries, the CSO added.
Inward investment from the US however showed a decline over the three years and at €22.221 billion by the end of 2003 was just 13% of the total. The CSO said this drop was largely due to some US owned enterprises located in Ireland granting loans to their foreign affiliates. It may also be due to indirect rerouting of US investment via other countries.
The CSO figures show that Irish investment flows into the UK in 2003 amounted to just over €1 billion or almost one third of the total of outward FDI flows.
