Foreign investment down 95% in Jan-Feb

Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria slumped 95% in the first two months of 2010, year on year, preliminary data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) show. Investment stood at EUR 28 million (0.1% of GDP) at the end of February, compared with EUR 555 million (1.6% of GDP) for the year-ago period.
Hungary was the biggest investor for the period with EUR 19 million. It was followed by Austria (EUR 10.5 million), Spain (EUR 9.6 million), Germany (EUR 9.5 million) and the UK (EUR 8.2 million). The bottom-line FDI result was smaller than the sum total, because the net direct investment flow from all other countries was negative and amounted to EUR 28.9 million. That was mainly due to the fact that payments on intercompany loans exceeded intercompany loan disbursements, the BNB said.

Finance