FDI spread reduces in May, could reach 2008 level by year-end

Foreign direct investments in Romania went down in May this year by 31.5 percent compared to the same month of 2009, according to the Foreign Investments Direction within the Romanian Center for the Promotion of Trade and Investments. It had been worse at the beginning of the year, when the FDI drop was of 73 percent, but investments increased during March, where the drop was of only 48 percent. So Romania could actually return to the same FDI level in 2008 towards the end of this year, according to Sorin Vasilescu, head of the Romanian Center for the Promotion of Trade and Investments. However, the Foreign Investors Council (FIC), which has seen a comeback of foreign investments internationally, doesn't expect the same thing to happen in Romania, where the economic situation is not favorable to investments. The Romanian center for the promotion of Trade and Investments received 23 new projects fueled by foreign investments during 2010, all of which totaled EUR 1.2 billion. If all were to be started, 6,600 new jobs would be created. The most sought after areas are the car industry, ecological construction materials, oilfield equipments. Romania received USD 6.3 billion of foreign direct investments last year, while Romanian companies invested USD 218 million abroad.