Bulgaria's Foreign Direct Investments to Collapse by 50% in 2009

The foreign direct investments in Bulgaria in 2009 are going to be less than 50% of the EUR 6,5 B the country attracted in 2008.

This becomes clear from data of the Bulgarian National Bank and forecasts by analyzers, as cited by the Pari Daily.

Preliminary BNB data shows that in January-August 2009 Bulgaria attracted only EUR 1,95 B in FDI (5,8% of the GDP), which is EUR 2,28 B less than in the same period of 2008.

Georgi Ganev, Chair of the Bulgarian Macroeconomic Association, has predicted that the foreign investments in Bulgaria in 2009 would total EUR 3 B. The head of the InvestBulgaria Agency, Stoyan Stalev, believes the figure could go up to EUR 3,5-4 B.

Georgi Prohaski, head of the Center for Economic Development, has said that 2010 would be worse for Bulgaria than 2009 in terms of foreign direct investments.

The InvestBulgaria Agency has issued 13 “first-class investor” certificates in the first ten months of 2009. Most of those are investments into renewable energy sources including five projects for wind parks, three photovoltaic projects, and one green energy project.

The Netherlands is the largest foreign investor in Bulgaira in first seven months of 2009. It is followed by Romania, which, according to experts, is the result of both Romanian companies investing in Bulgaria and the Romanian branches of international companies making secondary investments in Bulgaria.

In 1996-2008, Austria was the largest foreign investor in Bulgaria with total investments for EUR 5,36 B (16% of the total FDI), followed by the Netherlands (EUR 4,07 B, 12%), and Greece (EUR 2,99 B, 9%).

In that period, Bulgaria’s real estate sector attracted the largest volume of investment – EUR 7,4 B, or a share of 22%. Financial services are second with EUR 6,5 B, or 19%. Industrial investments are third with EUR 6 B and a share of 18%.