Cumulative FDI up to 41.2bn Sk in '97

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Slovakia totaled 5.4 billion Sk ($156.3 million) in 1997, putting cumulative FDI between January 1990 and December 1997 at 41.2 billion Sk ($1.2 billion), the NBS said on June 2. The biggest investor in 1997 was neighboring Austria, accounting for 27.3% of the total, while Germany contributed 25.8%. France and the United States took up 8.7% each. But in cumulative terms, Germany remained the largest foreign investor, accounting for 25.7% of total FDI, or 10.6 billion Sk. Austria invested 8.8 billion Sk over the same period, while the United Kingdom was third overall, investing a total of 4.7 billion Sk. Divided by sectors, the largest portion of FDI went to industrial production, totaling 22.6 billion Sk. Investment in the trade and car service sector totaled 10.2 billion, followed by the financial and insurance sector with investments worth 2.0 billion.