Singapore a beneficiary as Japan Inc invests more abroad

Investments of 7.89b in 2023 makes Japan the fourth-largest foreign investor here

- Chor Khieng Yuit

Japan invested $7.89 billion in Singapore in 2023, making it the fourth-largest foreign investor in the Republic last year.

The US remained Singapore's largest foreign investor in 2023, with $98.4 billion in investments, according to inward direct investment flow data released by the Republic's Department of Statistics on May 3.

While Japan may not be the largest investor in Singapore, it holds the distinction of being one of the Republic's top five foreign investors since 2016.

Globally, 2023 was a strong year for Japanese outbound activity, said Mr Michael Lawson, partnerin-charge at law firm King and Wood Mallesons (KWM).

He added that there is "significant impetus" for the trend to continue, as there is money to be deployed and the Japanese authorities are encouraging their companies to venture abroad.

The March 19 decision by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to move out of eight years of negative interest rates is also not expected to have any impact on corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) activities, analysts said.

Outward foreign direct investment flows data from the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) showed that Japan invested US$182 billion (S$245 billion) globally in 2023, up 4 per cent from 2022.