Sharp Increase in Foreign Investment to Romania in 2006

BNR: Foreign direct investments increased to EUR 9.1 bln last year
Nine O’Clock February 16, 2007

Bucharest – Foreign direct investments increased 75 per cent last year, compared to 2005, up to EUR 9.1 bln, the value including the EUR 2.2 bln cashed from the privatisation of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), according to data released yesterday by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). Loans given by companies abroad to their subsidiaries from Romania represented a third of the foreign investments, while the shares in capital and reinvested profit totalled two thirds of the total. BNR statistics regarding the value of foreign direct investments at the end of 2006 exceeded the estimations made by the authorities and international economic organisations. Romanian Agency for Foreign Investments estimated for last year a level of EUR 6.2 bln, without including the privatisation of BCR. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that FDI in Romania increased last year 34.1 per cent, to USD 8.6 bln, while the latest report issued this week by Ernst & Young Romania estimated the volume of investments at EUR 8.5 bln-EUR 9 bln. Romania was in 2006 the most attractive target for FDI in the South-Eastern region.

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