*Sources:  Czech Statistical Office (www.czso.cz ), Czech National Bank (https://www.cnb.cz/cnb/obiee_pzi ).

As of 2015, the Czech National Bank records cross-border equity capital stocks for quoted shares (in line with the ESA 2010 and BPM6 international manuals) at market value instead of book value, rather than valuing FDI as the sum of historical flows, which is the methodology used by the United States.  As a result, while the 2014 figure for total U.S. FDI stock was listed at USD4.388 billion under the sum of historical flows method, under the new methodology, it is valued at USD1.567 billion.  This explains the large discrepancy between U.S. and Czech figures for 2018.

The IMF rankings for the top five sources of FDI stock are consistent with data from the Czech National Bank.  IMF rankings for destinations of FDI stock vary – the Czech National Bank ranks the top five destinations as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Cyprus, and the UK.  IMF and Czech National Bank figures for inward direct investment vary negligibly and figures for outward direct investment vary by up to 4.5 percent.  These small statistical distortions are a result of the global adoption of the recently revised OECD Benchmark Definition for FDI, which is designed to discount investment flows from special purpose entities.

The top sources and destinations of Czech FDI represent a combination of major EU trading partners and favored tax regimes.  In the early 1990s, the Netherlands became a popular place for corporate registration for domestic and foreign businesses active in the Czech Republic.  In recent years, the main rationale for registering a business in the Netherlands was favorable corporate income taxes, stimulating rapid development of offshore corporate structures in the Czech Republic.  While this has dissipated (corporate income tax rates in the Czech Republic and Netherlands are nearly equal), the Netherlands remains a popular platform for large corporations.  Luxembourg attracts Czech businesses for the same reason.  Among other FDI partner countries, Cyprus offers one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU (currently 12.5 percent) and tax exemption of dividends.

The Czech National Bank does not provide its own statistical data on portfolio investments by individual countries but provides a reference to IMF data on its website.  As far as portfolio investment assets for all countries, the 2018 IMF results are consistent with the Czech National Bank’s data

Source: Bank of Estonia, IMF http://data.imf.org/regular.aspx?key=60587804 

* Source for Host Country Data: Hungarian Central Bank www.mnb.hu 

* Source for Host Country Data: http://www.fm.gov.lv/en/s/macroeconomics/main_macroeconomic_indicators/   https://statdb.bank.lv 
https://data.oecd.org/fdi/fdi-stocks.htm 

Luxembourg is considered a tax haven and it is believed that the ultimate source of this portfolio investment is primarily Russia.

* Source for Host Country Data: Lithuanian Statistics Department and Bank of Lithuania

* In Poland, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) collects data on FDI.  An annual FDI report and data are published at the end of the following year.  GDP data are published by the Central Statistical Office.  Final annual data are available at the end of May of the following year.

Results of table are consistent with the data of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).  NBP publishes FDI data in October/November.
A number of foreign countries register businesses in the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Cyprus, hence results for these countries include investments from other countries/economies.

Note: NBP publishes only total amounts of portfolio investment assets.
Results of the table are consistent with data from the National Bank of Poland (NBP). NBP publishes FDI data in October/November.
A number of foreign countries register businesses in the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Cyprus hence results for these countries include investments from other countries/economies.