The amount of foreign direct investment attracted to Romania came to 1.3 billion euros in the first eight months of this year, 43% higher than for the same period in 2003, according to the Romanian Agency for Foreign Investment (ARIS), which was quoting data released by the National Bank of Romania (NBR).
Most investment took place in the automobile industry, in furniture, electronic and IT components, and in the services and real estate markets.
The Romanian Agency for Foreign Investment is currently involved in 45 projects, which together have a combined value of 2.7 billion euros and which are in various stages of development: from deciding on location, to finalisation of investment or the starting of production. Most are greenfield investments; have benefited from specific legislative incentives granted to investors; and are located in industrial parks spread around the country.
“By the end of this year after conclusion of the projects being implemented, a number of 10,800 new jobs are expected to be created,” said Agency officials.
For September and October, the portfolio of projects supported by the Agency includes a project by French company Montupet, involving investment of 120 million euros, and one by Tunisian company Coficab involving 25 million euros. Both projects were linked to the car parts industry. Pirelli also announced it had launched a partnership in Slatina with Continental as part of the new plan entitled Cord Romania (an investment of 40 million euros).
miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro