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Foreign
direct investment (FDI) is a direct investment into production or
business in a country by an individual or company of another country,
either by buying a company in the target country or by expanding
operations of an existing business in that country. Foreign direct
investment is in contrast to portfolio investment which is a passive
investment in the securities of another country such as stocks and
bonds.
Broadly,
foreign direct investment includes "mergers and acquisitions, building
new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations and
intra company loans".
In a narrow sense, foreign direct investment refers just to building
new facilities. The numerical FDI figures based on varied definitions
are not easily comparable.
