Financial Repression Tracker

Rules that steer savings into government debt or hold returns below inflation, country by country.

Block · Capital controls

Mandatory limits and approval regimes for outward investment

What it is
Rules that ban, cap or require approval for residents' direct and portfolio investment abroad, sometimes with orders to repatriate foreign earnings and short-term assets.
Why it counts
By blocking capital from leaving through corporate investment channels, it keeps savings and corporate cash inside the domestic system and supports the currency and the government's financing base.

When it was in force

  • United States: 1968, historical; its end is not documented
  • China: 2017 → now, in force

2 examples

  1. United States

    1968Historical

    Its end is not documented · As cited: 1968-1974 (end year not verified on any opened source)

    US direct investors were barred from transferring capital abroad without Commerce Department authorisation and could be ordered to repatriate foreign earnings and short-term assets.

    Executive Order 11387 of 1 January 1968 (Governing Certain Capital Transfers Abroad), s. 1 (Foreign Direct Investment Program)Secondary source
    “is prohibited on or after the effective date of this Order, except as expressly authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, from engaging in any transaction involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital”

    presidency.ucsb.edu (opens in a new tab)Checked: quote matched on the page by script

    United States today: index 42.9

  2. China

    2017 → nowIn force

    China's State Council classified outward investment into encouraged, restricted and prohibited categories; restricted investment, to be guided and approached cautiously, covers real estate, hotels, cinemas, entertainment and sports clubs, and equity investment funds or platforms without real projects abroad.

    国办发〔2017〕74号, 关于进一步引导和规范境外投资方向的指导意见, 第四部分 (restricted outward investment)Primary source
    “限制境内企业开展与国家和平发展外交方针、互利共赢开放战略以及宏观调控政策不符的境外投资”

    gov.cn (opens in a new tab)Checked: quote matched on the page by script

    China today: index 59.5

Examples and their dates reviewed .

Further reading

7 more on capital controls