FACTBase Bulletin 65 - Investment and Trade: Drilling Down into Our Global Attractiveness

The latest FACTBase Bulletin by the Committee for Perth reports on the state of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Australia and aims to gain an understanding of the investment attractiveness of Western Australia. It draws on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics from 2001-2019. This report is the fourth research input into the Committee for Perth's major project, Hashtag Perth.

Key Findings

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a key measure of national success in investment attraction and capacity for economic development.
• Australian inward FDI attractiveness is strong globally, and is increasing relative to outward FDI.
• Australia’s most attractive industry sector is Mining and Quarrying – an area of strength for Western Australia.
• Western Australia’s exports were over AU$145 billion in 2018, considerably more than other Australian states. Most of this is due to WA's resources industry.
• Low levels of imports and state domestic demand means that Western Australia runs a trade surplus.
• The downside of Western Australia’s attractiveness to global investment is an overheating of the economy and exacerbating spatial inequality, factors that will need to be addressed through appropriate State policy and strategy.