The Foreign Investment Review Board’s (FIRB) Annual Report for 2003 04 was released today.
The Report outlines the activities of the Board, provides a summary of the year’s foreign investment proposals, comments on the more significant cases and reviews trends in foreign investment in Australia and Australian investment abroad. The Report also provides useful reference materials in Appendices, including an up to date copy of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (the Act), Regulations under the Act, and the latest summary document on Australia's Foreign Investment Policy incorporating the outcome of the Australia-US Free-Trade Agreement which came into effect on 1 January 2005. The main points made in the Report are:
- In 2003 04 a total of 4,447 proposals received foreign investment approval, compared with 4,667 the previous year. Of these 4,059 were in the real estate sector. There were 64 proposals rejected, compared with 80 in 2002 03, all in the real estate sector;
- Approvals in 2003 04 involved total proposed investment of $102 billion. This represented a 19 per cent increase on the previous year’s approvals of $86 billion;
- Services again represented the largest industry sector by value with investment approvals increasing from $23.3 billion in 2002 03 to $34.8 billion in 2003 04. Other major sectors were: real estate, increasing from $21.9 billion to $28.7 billion in 2003 04 and manufacturing, which rose from $21.7 billion to $23.1 billion;
- The United States was again the largest source of foreign investment, involving proposed investment of $29.8 billion or 29 per cent of the total approved. Singapore, the United Kingdom and Germany were the other major sources of proposed investment, accounting for 9 per cent, 7 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.
The Report also comments on Australia’s international investment position and Treasury’s ongoing involvement in international investment policy issues in multilateral and regional forums. This includes the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization, and bilaterally through free trade agreements (including most recently with Thailand and the US), investment protection and promotion agreements and other bilateral partnerships.
Copies of the FIRB Annual Report 2003-04 can be purchased through CanPrint (Infoservices) Telesales (Toll Free 1300 889 873).
You can also access the Report through the FIRB website (at http://www.firb.gov.au), which also provides copies of the Act and Regulations, policy guidelines, application forms and general guidance to help people understand their responsibilities under the Act and how to complete a foreign investment application.
Melbourne
5 January 2005
Contact:
Bernie Finn: 03 9887 3890 or 0419 140 405