Foreign direct investment in Canada continued a downward trend, falling almost 70% last year, according to a report published Monday by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The report said just $6.6 billion flowed into the country vs $21 billion in 2002 (all dollars are U.S. dollars). Four years ago, FDI for Canada stood at $66.8 billion.

Canada continued to be a net exporter of foreign investment, with outflows exceeding inflows by $15 billion, up sharply from $5.4 billion in 2002 and $8.6 billion in 2001. By contrast, in 2000 Canada was a net recipient of investment, attracting $22.1 billion.

The Paris-based OECD blamed Canada’s situation last year on U.S. investors who put their money in furtheraway investment locations.

The U.S. also took a big hit, with FDI falling 44.9% to $39.9 billion, making it a net exporter for the second consecutive year.

“The fall in FDI inflows affected all major regions, but nowhere more than North America,” the OECD said in release, noting that the U.S. figures were affected partly because of a revision of the 2002 data.

For the first time on record, China surpassed the U.S. as the world’s foremost recipient of FDI last year, with the figure dipping slightly to $53 billion, down $2 billion from 2002.

Overall, FDI into OECD countries fell 28% to $384 billion in 2003, down from $535 billion in 2002 and $662 billion in 2001 to a level less than one-third of the $1.3 trillion recorded in the peak year 2000.

“The weak global economic recovery, concerns about international security, and a preference on the part of many firms to consolidate acquisitions rather than make new ones all contributed to the decline in FDI, which covers such items as mergers and acquisitions, the construction of new production plants and capital transfers to foreign-owned enterprises,” the OECD said.

The OECD said total investment flows from OECD-member countries to developing nations jumped six-fold to $192 billion in 2003 from $32 billion the previous year. It said the increased flows reflected a broadening of companies’ investment goals in emerging markets, beyond simply gaining access to cheaper labour and raw materials.

India received US$4 billion of FDI from OECD countries in 2003, but only US$1 billion flowed into Russia, the lowest amount since the mid-1990s. Foreign direct investment in Russia still goes mainly to the energy sector, and Russia could attract more FDI if it reformed the regulations affecting business in other sectors of the economy.