Foreign investments amount to 6.6bn euros after 11 months

The value of foreign investments declined in the first 11 months of last year by around 20% on 2006, to 6.6 billion euros, according to a statement made on Tuesday in Vienna by Eugen Dijmarescu, vice-governor of the NBR (National Bank of Romania). In the January – November period, the value of foreign capital stood at 8.3 billion euros. The Romanian Agency for Foreign Investments put foreign direct investments at 7 billion euros in 2007. Foreign direct investments attracted by Romania in 2006 hit a record level of 9.05 billion euros (BCR’s privatisation included), up 74% on the previous year. Of this sum, 4.15 billion euros accounted for stakes held in companies, 2.67 billion euros for reinvested net profit, and 2.22 billion euros for net loans secured from foreign investors. At the end of 2006, the volume of foreign direct investments reached 34.5 billion euros, around one third of the GDP, with the sums destined primarily to the manufacturing industry (34.2% of the total) followed by financial services and insurance (22.2%).