Australia Yearbook - 2001

1024 Year Book Australia 2001
Although the value of equity issued by life offices,
superannuation funds and other financial
institutions has more than tripled over the period
30 June 1996 to 30 June 2000, the foreign
ownership of this equity has fallen from 20% at 30
June 1996 to 13% at 30 June 2000.
Data for equity on issue by unlisted corporations
are of lesser quality than the data supplied by the
Australian Stock Exchange for listed corporations.
Data for unlisted corporations are compiled from
returns supplied in the ABS Survey of Financial
Information, ABS Survey of International
Investment, selected annual reports and
estimates synthesised from analysing residual
items in demand and supply tables for the various
share markets.
International merchandise
trade
Conceptual framework
Australia’s international merchandise trade
statistics, relating to the exports and imports of
goods, are compiled in broad agreement with the
United Nations’ (UN) recommendations for the
compilation of international trade statistics.
The UN recommendations state that merchandise
trade covers all movable goods which add to
(imports) or subtract from (exports) the stock of
material resources of a country as a result of their
movement into or out of the country.
In terms of the analysis undertaken here, errors
in the estimated market value of equity on issue
will impact on the accuracy of estimates of the
proportion of that equity owned by
non-residents.
30.21 FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF EQUITY(a)—At 30 June
Unit 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
ALL SECTORS COMBINED
Amount issued $b 637.5 756.7 878.4 990.5 1 132.6
Amount held by rest of the world $b 190.5 215.3 240.0 277.7 313.2
Percentage of foreign ownership % 30 28 27 28 28
SUB-SECTORS
Corporate trading enterprises(b)
Amount issued(c) $b 502.4 563.0 608.5 722.3 798.2
Amount held by rest of the world $b 161.2 178.6 185.8 219.8 248.7
Percentage of foreign ownership % 32 32 31 30 31
Banks
Amount issued(c) $b 57.3 92.5 103.6 112.8 140.2
Amount held by rest of the world $b 14.2 19.2 28.5 33.2 38.0
Percentage of foreign ownership % 25 21 28 29 27
Non-bank deposit taking institutions
Amount issued(c) $b 16.1 15.9 15.8 16.3 16.9
Amount held by rest of the world $b 4.8 4.7 5.0 4.3 4.4
Percentage of foreign ownership % 30 29 32 26 26
Other financial sub-sectors(d)
Amount issued(c) $b 52.4 75.7 138.0 128.1 166.8
Amount held by rest of the world $b 10.4 12.8 20.8 20.4 22.1
Percentage of foreign ownership % 20 17 15 16 13
Central bank
Amount issued(e)(f) $b 9.4 9.7 12.6 10.9 10.4
(a) Equity includes units in trusts. (b) Includes private non-financial corporations, and Commonwealth, State and local public
non-financial corporations. (c) These estimated market values are considered to be of poor quality. They should be used cautiously.
(d) Includes life offices and superannuation funds, central borrowing authorities, and other financial institutions. (e) Net asset
values. (f) There is no foreign ownership in this sub-sector.
Source: Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts (5232.0); Balance of Payments and International Investment Position,
Australia (5302.0).