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Bulgaria with Positive FDI in 2010 Q1, Revised Data Shows Bulgaria did not have a net outflow of foreign direct investments in the first quarter of 2010, according to revised data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).
A BNB announcement made Wednesday shows that Bulgaria ended the first quarter with a positive FDI balance of about EUR 130 M, reversing the data announced at the very end of May saying that the country saw a negative FDI balance of EUR 22 M.
According to the previously released data, Bulgaria had a positive FDI balance of EUR 53 M in January, and EUR 94 M in February, while in March the FDI balance was a negative EUR 170 M.
The revised information, however, shows EUR 63 M of foreign investments in January 2010, EUR 146 M in February, and negative EUR 78 M in March.
What is more, according to preliminary data, in April, Bulgaria attracted a total of EUR 36.7 M in FDI, bringing the total for the first four months of the year to EUR 168.1 M (0.5% of GDP).
Despite the reversal of the negative FDI balance, the data still shows a staggering 82.4% decline of foreign investment in Bulgaria in January-April 2010 compared to the same period of 2009 when the country attracted a total of EUR 955 M (2.8% of the GDP).
The attracted Equity Capital (acquisition/disposal of shares and equities in cash and contributions in kind by non-residents in/from the capital and reserves of Bulgarian enterprises and receipts/payments from/for real estate deals in the country) for January-April 2010 amounted to EUR 206.8 M. It decreased by EUR 493.7 M compared to that attracted in the same period of 2009 (EUR 700.5 M). The receipts from real estate investments of non-residents amounted to EUR 49.6 million compared to EUR 184.3 M for January-April 2009, the Bulgarian National Bank announced.
By country, the largest foreign investors in Bulgaria for the period January-April 2010 were the
Netherlands (EUR 579 M), Russia (EUR 48.6 M) and the USA (EUR 47 M).
Net payments towards Austria, the Netherlands Antiles and Germany amounted respectively to EUR 367 million, EUR 102.7 million and EUR 87.6 million.
The higher net receipts from the Netherlands and the higher net payments towards Austria were mainly due to usual operations with revolving intercompany credits.
Tags: BNB, Bulgarian National Bank, FDI, foreign investments
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