5674.5 - Experimental Estimates of Foreign and Domestic Investment in Private New Capital Expenditure, Western Australia, 1998-99  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/09/2000   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All
  • About this Release
  • Foreign-owned firms account for 25 per cent of WA private new capital expenditure (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

September 19, 2000
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
123/2000

Foreign-owned firms account for 25 per cent of WA private new capital expenditure

One quarter of total private new capital expenditure in Western Australia in 1998-99 came from foreign-owned businesses, according to experimental estimates released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The main foreign contributors to total private new capital expenditure were the United States of America (15 per cent) and the European Union (7 per cent).

In releasing the data, ABS Regional Director for Western Australia, Colin Nagle, said: "There has been a growing need for statistics on globalisation, particularly the degree to which foreign investment is flowing into States to fund large capital projects. These experimental results are the beginning of important work by the ABS to provide indicators that will help measure and monitor changes in investment expenditure in the State by foreign-owned companies".

The estimates also reveal that private new capital expenditure in Western Australia's mining industry, worth $3,645 million in 1998-99, was dominated by Australian-owned businesses (76 per cent). By contrast, foreign-owned businesses accounted for just over half (53 per cent) of the $1,285 million of private new capital expenditure in the manufacturing industry.

Australian-owned businesses also accounted for 64 per cent of capital expenditure in a group of other selected industries (such as retail, wholesale and transport industries). This proportion could be much higher because ownership details could not be determined for businesses undertaking an additional 25 per cent of capital expenditure in this group of industries (these businesses could reasonably be assumed to be mainly Australian-owned).

Mr Nagle pointed out that the value of the data will be significantly enhanced by work currently underway to provide foreign and domestic capital expenditure data for a number of years, enabling trends to be established. "It is also expected that much sought-after statistics on private new capital expenditure by Australian and foreign-owned businesses will become available for other States in the not too distant future," he said.

Details are in Information Paper: Experimental Estimates of Foreign and Domestic Investment in Private New Capital Expenditure, Western Australia 1998–99 (cat. no. 5674.5) available from ABS bookshops in capital cities. This publication is available from this site.If you wish to purchace a copy of this publication, contact the ABS Bookshop in your capital city.