DURING 2004, Slovakia received foreign direct investments (FDIs) of Sk27.044 billion (€690 million). Slovak companies invested just Sk1.1 billion (€30 million) abroad, the TASR news agency reported.
Compared to 2003 there was a decrease in FDIs of Sk8.7 billion (€220 million). The majority of the foreign investments (Sk21.996 billion) came into the business sphere, while Sk5.05 billion (€120 million) went to the banking sector.
According to the information released by the Slovak Statistics Office, the biggest investors in Slovakia last year were Hungary (Sk6.191 billion), Austria (Sk6.122 billion) and the Czech Republic (Sk4.43 billion).
More than 80 percent of the direct investments were destined for the industrial sector, almost 73 percent of which went to the Bratislava region.
The volume of the total foreign investments in Slovakia in 2004 represented Sk380.3 billion (€9.68 billion), Sk313.7 billion for the business and Sk66.6 billion to the banking sector. The most significant volume was invested by the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy, mostly into the industrial sector.
Slovak companies focussed their investment mostly on the Czech Republic and Ethiopia, mostly in the industrial sector. Total Slovak capital in the world by the end of 2004 represented Sk19.655 billion (€500 million), Sk19.1 billion of which was in the business sector and Sk500 million (€12.7 million) into the banking sector.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
