Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first eight months of the year stood at 2.23 billion euro, the equivalent of 2.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed on October 18.
In the same period of 2022, FDI was 1.67 billion euro, but the BNB originally reported 1.06 billion euro, which was revised upward later.
Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, was 355.8 million euro (compared to an outflow of 22.3 million euro in January-August 2022) and the BNB figures showed 1.78 billion euro in re-invested earnings (compared to 1.54 billion euro for the first eight months of last year.)
Net receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies recorded a net outflow of 8.2 million euro, including 9.1 million euro towards Russia, compared to an outflow of 20.3 million euro recorded in January-August 2022.
The central bank data showed 88.7 million euro in investment inflows as debt instruments, recorded as the change in the net liabilities of Bulgarian companies towards their foreign investor owners, compared to 149.3 million euro in the first eight months of 2022. Such financial flows include financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities, BNB said.
By country, the largest direct investment in Bulgaria in January-August came from the Netherlands (576.6 million euro), Belgium (273.7 million euro) and Germany (219.4 million euro). Notable net outflows were recorded towards Switzerland (-42.4 million euro) and Romania (-30.1 million euro).
According to preliminary figures, Bulgarian investment abroad increased by 353.6 million euro in January-August, compared to 387.8 million euro in the same period of last year, BNB said.
Source: The Sofia Globe