Last month I wrote an article about the Top Ten Creditors to the USA. Today we shall review two charts that show the top net exporters and importers of capital in 2008.

Countries that Export Capital in 2008

The largest net exporter of Capital is China with 24.2% of total. This is not surprising since China is the largest buyer of US debt holding $767 Trillion at the end of March,2009. Interesting to see Germany as the second largest exporter next to China and ahead of Japan. These top three countries accoutn for nearly 46% of total capital exports. Most of the remaining countries in the chart (except Other countries at 19.1%) are net oil exporters. For example, Malaysia is in the list since it exports more crude oil than domestic consumption.

Countries that Import Capital in 2008

Data Source and Notes: IMF, World Economic Outlook database as of April 16, 2009.
1 – As measured by countries’ current account surplus (assuming errors and omissions are part of the
capital and financial accounts).
2 – Other countries include all countries with shares of total surplus less than 2.1 percent.
3 – As measured by countries’ current account deficit (assuming errors and omissions are part of the
capital and financial accounts).
4 – Other countries include all countries with shares of total deficit less than 2.7 percent.

USA was the largest net importer of capital receiving 43% of all capital exported since it is the most favored destination for primarily China and Japan. Despite the collapse in the real estate sector, Spain came second followed by Italy. UK attracted just 2.9% of total capital in spite of London being one of the important financial center in the world.

Source: Global Financial Stability Report, Responding to the Financial Crisis and Measuring Systemic Risk, April 2009,  IMF