Foreign direct investments grow by over 22 pct in first seven months

Foreign direct investments grew in the first seven months of 2019 by 22.3 pct over the similar period of last year, to 2.916 billion euro, according to data published on Friday by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). 

"Direct investments of non-residents of Romania totalled 2,916 million euro (compared to 2,384 million euro in the January-July 2018 period), of which equity investments (including estimated reinvested net profits) totalled 2,102 million euro, and intergroup credits registered a net value of 814 million euro," the BNR release mentions. 

The number of newly established foreign capital companies increased, in the first seven months of 2019, by 0.3 pct, compared to the similar period of last year, to 3,348 units, according to data centralized by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC). 

The 3,348 new companies had a share capital totaling 13.59 million US dollars, a 37.4 increase over the January-July 2018 period. 

On July 31, 2019, the highest number of companies with foreign equity had investors from Italy, namely 48,232, but the largest value of the share capital was that of Dutch companies, namely 12.93 billion US dollars in 5,352 companies.