Voluntary data collection - Ultimate Investing Economy.
Under the aegis of the Joint ECB and Eurostat Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Task Force, a voluntary data collection mechanism was launched to compile inward FDI positions according to the Ultimate Investing Economy (UIE). It is worth mentioning that the standard FDI statistics are compiled by immediate investing economy. The aim of this voluntary data collection is to show the ‘true’ origin of FDI. The preferred method to identify the UIE is the ‘winner takes it all’ approach (control approach).
The total UIE FDI inward positions and the standard presentation of the FDI data should be the same. This means that the FDI in each company will all be allocated to its UIE; therefore, it is just a different presentation to the standard one.
In some countries, this may mean that the country becomes an inward investor in itself as a result of the chain of investment leading back to the home country (“round tripping”).