Inbound investment flows slump 67 pct in 2015

The MSAR saw a total of MOP9.1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in inward direct investment flows in 2015, plunging 66.7 per cent year-on-year, the official data released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) shows.
According to the DSEC, the significant drop in inward investment flows was due to a negative inward flow of MOP6 billion registered in the city’s gaming sector, with the amount of dividends paid exceeding total profits made in the year.
However, inflows of direct investment in the Banks & Securities sector surged by 57.2 per cent year-on-year to MOP7.8 billion, while that in Construction also soared by 142.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP2.4 billion.  Meanwhile, Wholesale & Retail saw a slight decrease of 0.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP3.9 billion.
Overall, the city’s income of inward direct investment registered a year-on-year decrease of 39.8 per cent in the year, amounting to MOP51.5 billion, the first decline seen since 2009. Income generated from the local gaming industry accounted for MOP30.1 billion, down by 47.5 per cent year-on-year.
In addition, income earned by Wholesale & Retail fell by 30 per cent year-on-year to MOP6.4 billion, however that of Banks & Securities jumped by 17.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP10.8 billion.
The city’s direct investors were primarily from Mainland China, whose investment flows accounted for MOP7.4 billion of the total in 2015, followed by those from Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, whose inward investment flows amounted to MOP3.2 billion and MOP2.8 billion for the year, respectively.
Nevertheless, the city saw inward direct investment flows from the Cayman Islands record a negative inflow of MOP6.5 billion.

Investment stock
As at the end of last year, a total of MOP231.8 billion worth of stock of inward direct investment was recorded, increasing five per cent year-on-year while also representing the lowest level of increase seen since 2009. Of the total, MOP123.3 billion was from the Gaming sector, a drop of 4.8 per cent year-on-year. Nearly half of the inward stock investment in the gaming sector was from the Cayman Islands.
Banks & Securities attracted stock of inward direct investment of MOP46.5 billion for the whole year of 2015, a surge of 22.9 per cent year-on-year. Of this, 60.7 per cent was from Mainland China.
In addition, Wholesale & Retail saw stock of inward investment jump by 17.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP26.3 billion, with investment from Hong Kong contributing 58.1per cent.

Outward investment
On the other hand, outward direct investment flows of local enterprises recorded a negative value of MOP5.5 billion for last year, resulting in a net inflow of MOP14.6 billion.
At the end of 2015, stock of outward direct investment had decreased by 19.4 per cent year-on-year to MOP24.7 billion. Of the total, investment in Hong Kong accounted for MOP5.6 billion, while that in Mainland China amounted to MOP4.2 billion.
Outward direct investment income earned by local companies surged by 22.2 per cent year-on-year to MOP800 million. In particular, that earned by gaming corporations rose by 19.2 per cent year-on-year to MOP500 million.
Yet, outward direct investment stock in the Gaming industry declined by 22.9 per cent year-on-year to MOP19.8 billion, while that in Wholesale & Retail also dropped by 9.9 per cent year-on-year to MOP3 billion.
In 2015, there were 2,597 enterprises involved in inward direct investment and 64 enterprises in outward direct investment, according to the DSEC.