Foreign direct investment worth 9.49 billion euro in 2008

Foreign direct investment were worth 9.49 billion euro last year, which makes the balance of foreign direct investment to reach at the end of 2008 48.79 billion euro, a joint press release of the National Bank of Romania and the National Institute for Statistics (INS) shows. The final balance of FDI is 14% higher than at the end of 2007.

Out of the value of investments made last year, 4.87 billion euro represented capital sharing, and the credits received from foreign investors were 4.62 billion euro, namely 48.7% of the total.

From the point of view of foreign investors orientation to economic sectors, the investments focused on manufacturing industries ( 31.3% of the investment balance), the most attractive sectors being metallurgy ( 6.9%), food industry, beverages and tobacco ( 4.6%), oil processing, chemical products, rubber and plastic ( 4.3%), transport means ( 4%), cement, glass and ceramics ( 3.6%). Other activities which drew investment were financial intermediaries and insurances, which cover banking activity, banking and non-banking institutions and insurance institutions ( 20.5%), constructions, real estate ( 12.6%), commerce ( 12.4%), IT and communications ( 6.7%).

From the point of view of the territory, foreign investments addressed Bucuresti_Ilfov area ( 62.7%), followed by the Centre ( 8.3%), Sud-Est region ( 7.3%), Sud region ( 7%), and Vest region ( 5.4%). The Nord-Est region is the least attractive for foreign investors, only 2.3% of the investment flow being directed to this region.

Austria is the first on account of the share of foreign investment with 18.8% dropping from 21.4% in 2007. It is followed by The Netherlands ( 17.2% against 16.3% in 2007), Germany ( 15.4% up against 11.7% in 2007), France ( 8.8% - similarly to 2007) and Italy ( 7.3% against 6.1% in 2007), replacing Greece among the first five countries in foreign direct investments in Romania.

”The activity of FDI companies, as a whole, has a positive impact on the trade balance of Romania, its contribution to exports being 73.0% while imports is 62.6% » the press release shows.
In this analysis, BNR and INS researched 6,473 companies FDI with companies under 20 employees ( 6,242 companies), all credit institutions with foreign capital ( 40 units), insurance companies with foreign capital ( 34 units), and atypical companies ( companies with turnover of at least 30 million lei ) – 157 units.

The multitude of FDI companies which was comprised in the exhaustive statistical research ( almost 36,900) is represented by the sample made up of 1,050 units. The total volume of units was of 7,523.
The error degree for the results regarding FDI in Romania on 31 December 2008 is +/- 3%, with probability of 97%.