Bulgaria's FDI Drops Fourfold in Jan-Feb 2012 Y/Y

Bulgaria got only EUR 85 M of foreign direct investment in the first two months of 2012, according to preliminary data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

The foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in January - February 2012 amounted to EUR 84.6 M (0.2% of GDP), compared to EUR 333.2 M (0.9% of GDP) in January - February 2011.

Bulgaria's attracted Equity Capital (acquisition/disposal of shares and equities in cash and contributions in kind by non-residents in/from the capital and reserves of Bulgarian enterprises and receipts/payments from/for real estate deals in the country) for January - February 2012 amounted to EUR 86.5 M.

It decreased by EUR 27.1 M compared to that attracted in the same period of 2011 (EUR 113.6 M), the central bank's data shows.

Bulgaria's receipts from real estate investments of non-residents amounted to EUR 32.7 M, compared to EUR 16.9 M attracted in January - February 2011.

The other capital, net (the change in the net liabilities of the direct investment enterprise to the direct investor on financial loans, suppliers' credits and debt securities) was negative, amounting to EUR 19.8 M in January - February 2011, compared to a positive other capital, net of EUR 203 M in January - February 2011.

Based on preliminary data on profit/loss, the Reinvested Earnings (the share of non-residents in the undistributed earnings/ loss of the enterprise) in January - February 2012 were estimated at EUR 17.8 M, against EUR 16.6 M in the same period of 2011.

By country, the largest direct investments in Bulgaria for January - February 2012 were those of the Netherlands (EUR 25.4 M), South Korea (EUR 16.6 M) and Russia (EUR 13.1 M).

The largest negative flows from Bulgaria for the period were towards UK (EUR -9.3 M) and Sweden (EUR -7.6 M) mainly due to net payments on intercompany credits in accordance with the loan repayment schedules of enterprises, BNB explained.

According to preliminary data in January - February 2012 Bulgaria's direct investment abroad amounted to EUR 17.2 M, compared to EUR 33.9 M in January - February 2011.