The Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS) is a worldwide statistical data collection project launched by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2009. The purpose of the CDIS is to improve the availability and quality of direct investment position statistics with extended detailing.
The approach used in the CDIS is based on the principles described in:
- “Balance of payments and international investment position” manual [1], 6th edition, 2009 (IMF);
- CDIS Guide [2], 2015 (IMF);
- Benchmark definition of foreign direct investment [3], 4th edition, 2008 (OECD).
CDIS in the Republic of Moldova
Coverage
The CDIS was first conducted in Moldova in 2010 and included 2,945 companies with foreign capital (almost all active businesses). Today, approximately 3,500 companies participate in the survey each year, including deposit-taking corporations, other financial corporations, and non-financial corporations. The CDIS statistics in Moldova does not include data on: investment in real estate; outward investment; investment between fellow enterprises (having the same common direct investor).
Data sources
The main data sources for the CDIS are: (i) the database of economic entities’ (except commercial banks) reports „1-Invest” (“Foreign investment allocated by enterprises in the economy of Moldova and transactions with nonresidents”); (ii) the database of economic entities’ reports within the NAS “Presentation of financial statements”, collected by the National Bureau of Statistics and processed by the National Bank of Moldova for the reporters of „1-Invest”; (iii) reports on commercial banks’ shareholders; (iv) reports on changes in the equity of commercial banks. Additional data sources are the reports on transactions in securities with non-residents' participation provided by the National Commission for Financial Markets and information collected from commercial banks via the International Transactions Reporting System.
Valuation principles
For investment both in the form of equity and in the form of debt instruments (loans, trade credits, and other liabilities), the “own funds at book value” principle is used.
The “own funds at book value” principle involves valuation based on the positions reported by companies at book value. Accounting records are kept in Moldovan leu and are recalculated at the period-end exchange rate to obtain the positions in US dollars.
Difference from other direct investment statistics
The CDIS statistics is presented according to the directional principle (inward / outward), unlike the direct investment statistics from the International investment position, presented according to the assets / liabilities principle, which is the main source of divergence of indicators. Besides this, the Public Services Agency (PSA) offers upon request information [4] about economic entities with foreign participation in capital, which includes capital inflows recorded at the moment of companies’ setup, without further additional emissions and other changes; beyond that, the information provided by PSA does not distinguish between direct investment and portfolio investment.
Other remarks
Currently CDIS data are available for inward direct investment, while statistics on outward direct investment by Moldovan residents is not yet compiled because of the lack of detailed data sources. Published data are annual and reflect positions at the end of the calendar year, they are presented separately for equity and debt instruments. The geographic distribution of FDI is shown according to the immediate investor’s country.
Annual CDIS data are available on the NBM’s website in the Interactive database [5] starting from 2009, in distribution by industry and in geographic breakdown by country and region (EU, CIS, rest of the world). The statistics by industry is available at the level of totals and also in mixed distribution by industry and region, according to the classifiers CEAM (NACE rev. 1.1) for 2009-2015 and CEAM-2 (NACE rev.2) since 2016. Alternatively, the CDIS statistics in geographic distribution and by instruments can be accessed on the IMF’s website [6].