Foreign Investments in Netherlands

General overview
There are over 6,000 foreign companies at the moment in the Netherlands, providing 30% of the total volume of business in Holland. Foreign companies develop activities in many fields, from high-technology electronics and electrical equipment to chemicals, metals, textiles and food, with a major focus on the financial sector. As a matter of fact, companies with foreign capital represent 21% from the total of investments in the Netherlands, according to the Internationalization Monitor, published in 2009.

Nevertheless, foreign investments bring great benefit for the Dutch economy, therefore even local companies seem to welcome and encourage foreign investors. By now, companies set up by entrepreneurs with other residency than Dutch have been providing 24% of the total added value of the private sector. Last but not least, it has been estimated that 30% of the investments in research and development have come from a foreign source. Besides, the Netherlands is a state that provides important exportation and it also has a valuable status on the map of international relations and business networks, contributing to opportunities offered to foreign universities collaborations and technological development.

Jobs in Netherlands
Foreign companies provide 15% of the jobs available for the local workforce in the Netherlands, meaning that an approx. number of 782,000 of Dutch people are hired by a company with foreign capital. Apparently, foreign employers even pay higher salaries with 15% than local employers. The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) usually mediates numerous investment projects with foreign capital. In 2010, for instance, NFIA was involved in 155 projects, that provided 956 million EUR and turned out to offer 3,021 new jobs. Some of these businesses actually became so flourishing that they increased their job offers, raising the number to 3,793 new jobs.

Figures
Annual foreign investment inflows were 7.5 billion EUR in 1997, down from 11.2 billion EUR in 1996, as estimated by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA). Afterwards, they grew to 25.5 billion EUR in 1998. According to the NFIA statistics, the peak was reached in 2000 and 2001, when total inflows reached 35.3 billion EUR and respectively 34 billion EUR. However, in 2002, foreign investment amount fell to approx. 20.4 billion EUR. In 2002, it was the first time when a European country made the most investments in Netherlands, since the United States had been the top foreign investor in Holland. Germany became the main source of foreign capital that year.

By 2001, the total stock of foreign investments had reached about 218.2 billion EUR. The major holders were the United States while Europe was represented by the United Kingdom with 16% of the total of foreign capital and Belgium with 14%.

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