“The country’s robust economy, strategic location, strong global trade and investment ties, and proven track record of innovation position Australia as an ideal investment destination,” Austrade said.
Austrade said the jump could also be attributed to an upturn in global foreign investment since 2010 when the global financial crisis subsided.
Foreign direct investment into Australia has grown at a compound annual rate of 8.5% in the five years since 2006, according to data Austrade sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The 2012 A.T. Kearney FDI Confidence Index confirmed Australia as a top investment destination, based on a survey of the world’s leading corporations and their investment intentions.
Australia ranked sixth in the survey behind China, India, Brazil, the US and Germany.
The US and UK remain the two biggest investors in Australia respectively but investments from China, Bermuda, Singapore, Canada and Japan have shown the strongest growth over the past five years.
Rounding out the top five investors in Australia was Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland with investment from the top five companies growing last year.
US companies invested $122.4 billion in Australia last year representing 24.1% of the market share.
China’s foreign direct investment in Australia has grown around 90% per annum since 2006, the largest growth of any foreign investor.
When combined with Hong Kong, China was the sixth largest investor last year with a total combined value of $20 billion or 4% of market share.
Austrade cited separate analysis by the Financial Times FDI Intelligence database which ranked Australia as the 10th top destination for foreign investment last year with a 1.3% share of global investments.
The database tracked 290 investments from 261 companies which spent $US11.2 billion ($A11.3 billion).
The average investment was $38.5 million.
FDI recorded 1243 foreign investments into Australian projects between 2007 and 2011 from 933 companies, representing an average annual growth rate of 15.4%.
The projects represented a total capital investment of $122 billion, with greenfield investments accounting for 84.8%.
According to FDI, 60% of all investments were in the top five categories of software and IT services, business services, financial services, communications and coal, oil and natural gas.
Foreign investment in metals came in eighth with 10 projects last year and 52 between 2007 and 2011, representing a 4.2% share and a 10.2% compound annual growth rate.
This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.
