ABSTRACT
National political conditions, such as the type of government, the stability of government, the balance between central and regional authority, and the strength of nationalism and anti-colonialist sentiments can influence a country's choices in developing its foreign investment system. The laws and regulations that comprise the foreign investment system are sometimes administered by an organization or agency, such as the Board of Investment in the Philippines, the Capital Investment Coordinating Board in Indonesia, or the Foreign Investment Review Agency in Canada. The foreign investment system in the Philippines has been quite complex, chaotic, and contradictory, and there have often been substantial discrepancies between the objectives of the government in setting the regulations and the objectives of those who have administered them. In 1973, India's Foreign Exchange Regulation Act imposed even more restrictions than had been in place previously, as the government sought to tighten its control over the economy and promote national selfsufficiency.
