Watchdog no. 171 (May 2026)
The latest full Key Facts Update is on our website2. It is available in both graphs and text. Here are the highlights:
Key Fact 2 and the accompanying graph on slide 3 of the Powerpoint shows a significant increase in foreign ownership of privately owned equity of corporate enterprises in New Zealand. It jumped from 45.3% up to 50.1% this year — over half, and a new record. There was also an increase in foreign ownership of all corporate equity. The trendline shows a clear increase over time on both of these metrics. These figures are from 2023 to 2024 as the 2025 data is not yet available.
Key Fact 3 shows a significant increase in Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approvals for new foreign investment, from $10bn in 2024 to $17bn in 2025.
Key Fact 4 shows that in 2025 the OIO approved the sale of 250,669 hectares of freehold land or interests in land (such as leasing or forestry rights) to foreigners, a substantial increase on 2024 (149,214). This was the highest figure since 2016.
Key Fact 7 shows that transnational corporations took $100.5bn in profits out of NZ in the decade 2016-2025. In that time, less than a third of these profits were reinvested back into NZ on average.
Key Fact 8 shows that $18 billion left New Zealand in the year to March 2025 in the form of investment income from debt and smaller shareholdings (portfolio investment). This is a record high and a 270% increase on 2021. The combined total of transnational corporations’ (TNC) profits and portfolio investment leaving the country in 2025 was $28.8 billion. Our deficit on investment income has almost doubled since 2021, from $6.1bn to $11bn, and is responsible for more than half of our current account deficit ($18.3bn).
Also from Key Fact 8: $11.9bn of the $28.8bn went to the overseas owners of our banking sector — 41.2%. The investment income from overseas ownership of the banking sector, after taking account of its small investment income from abroad, accounted for more than half (57.4%) of New Zealand’s current account deficit in the year to March 2025. The finance sector, which includes banking, finance and insurance, accounted for almost two thirds — (63.4% or $18.3 billion) of the investment income going overseas — equal to the current account deficit.
The most significant of these highlights, in my view, are Key Facts 2, 4 and 8.
Elliot Crossan is the researcher who produces CAFCA’s Key Facts Updates.↩︎
https://www.cafca.org.nz/foreign-direct-investment-figures/2020/02/cafca-key-facts/↩︎
Watchdog 171 -- May 2026
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