Photo: PixabayIn 2022, Serbia had 4.4 billion euros in foreign direct investments. With an annual increase of 13.6% compared to the previous record in 2021, a new record inflow of cross-border capital was achieved, reports politika.rs. The data on this from the National Bank of Serbia is still preliminary. For now, the most accurate are those for the first three quarters, which show that in that period, about three billion euros were invested in our country. The biggest investment was in the processing industry—a total of 1.3 billion euros—and within this group, the most—namely, 443 million—was in the production of rubber and plastic.
In the first three quarters of last year, one billion euros were invested in the construction sector, and real estate deals worth 226 million should be added to the package. Investments in trade were also large, amounting to around 300 million euros.
Looking at the countries from which the capital comes, it is evident that the European Union is our main economic partner, because EU investors have invested 1.6 billion euros. Investors from other European countries invested $608 billion. The United Kingdom (260 million), Switzerland (162 million), and the Russian Federation (57 million) contributed the most. China remains a significant investor, with one billion euros, and Japan with approximately 200 million. 95 million euros arrived from the USA.
The NBS states that since 2016, Serbia has been recording a continuous increase in FDI inflows. This growth trend temporarily slowed down during 2020 as a result of the first shock since the outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic, but again during 2021 the inflow of FDI recorded a record amount at that moment of 3.9 billion euros, so that in the previous three years the total inflow was realized at 11.3 billion. In addition, the net inflow of FDI since 2015 has fully covered the current deficit of the balance of payments, contributing to the long-term sustainability of the external position of the Republic of Serbia.
"The most significant factor influencing the high inflows of FDI is above all the achieved and preserved macroeconomic stability despite the uncertainties in the international environment. A favorable business climate, a qualified workforce, established free trade agreements with many countries, as well as continued investment in infrastructure development, additionally contributed to the continuous inflow of FDI”, according to the NBS.
Source: politika.rs
