Real US investments amount to $1.3bn, Rosapepe says

The actual value of US investments in Romania since 1990 until November 2000 exceeds 1.3 billion dollars, more than double the figure recorded by Romanian official statistics, US Ambassador James Rosapepe told Ziarul Financiar on Tuesday.

“This figure is also a rough estimate, because there are still certain categories of investments that are not taken into account,” the Ambassador stated.

Rosapepe said that economic and commercial experts from US Embassy reached this conclusion following a detailed study based on official statistics and on data gathered from more than 2,500 companies with American capital.

According to data issued by the National Institute of Statistics, the value of social capital invested by American companies in Romania since December 1990 until October 2000 amounts to 333.870 million dollars, the US ranking sixth in the top of foreign investors, with a share of 6.8%.

“We know now that official figures are much below the value of American investments made in Romania starting with 1990,” Rosapepe stated, specifying that “there are several large companies eager to invest.” In the first six months of this year, American investments increased by 14%.

The results of the study include neither American participation to direct capital investments of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where the US share amounts to 10%, nor the American capital granted to companies as credits other than capital investments.

Embassy experts reached the conclusion that more than 700 million dollars were left out from Trade Registry statistics.

The most important investments that are not included in the official statistics are those made by investment funds, such as New Century Holdings (Broadhurst) (200 million dollars) or Romanian-American Investment Fund, as well as those made by companies based in USA through their subsidiaries from third countries, such as Holland or Cyprus.