SLOVAKIA and the Czech Republic have become regional leaders in attracting foreign investments to their countries. The volume of the investments since the Velvet Revolution in 1989 is much higher per capita than in Hungary or Poland.
However, in the late nineties Slovakia was still lagging considerably behind, the daily SME reported.
In the first quarter of 2005 Slovakia attracted Sk1.106 billion (€28.826 million) worth of foreign direct investment (FDI), while Slovak firms invested Sk30 million abroad, said the Slovak Statistics Office.
The vast majority of the foreign direct investments, worth Sk1.083 billion, went into the business sector, with Sk23 million (€598,000) going to the banking sector. The biggest investors for the period were companies from Great Britain and Austria bringing in Sk538 million and Sk438 million (€11.3 million) respectively. The Czech Republic invested Sk437 million in Slovakia and Germany Sk400 million (€10.4 million).
Slovakia's cumulative foreign investment stood at Sk390.6 billion (€10.17 billion) - Sk323.9 billion (€8.43) in the business sector and Sk66.7 billion (€1.74 billion) in the banking sector. The bulk of this investment, made mainly in the industrial production sector, was from The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
