The United Kingdom and the European Union have made fewer direct investments back and forth since the Brexit referendum. Last year, investors on both sides of the Channel withdrew even more money than they invested in each other’s economy.

Prior to the Brexit referendum in June 2016, the UK received an average of EUR 20 billion per quarter on average from investors from the Member States of the European Union. Between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of 2018, on average, there was an outflow of 2 billion euros. Conversely, investment flows also went from positive to negative.

Between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom,for example, investment flows, calculated as the average over four quarters, also fell in the autumn of 2018. From the Netherlands, 3.1 billion euros more were withdrawn from the UK than invested. Conversely, the outflow was 500 million euros.