Direct foreign investment doubles over last year

[Madgolfer]

Direct foreign investment doubles over last year.

Just in the first six months of 2011 direct foreign investment has doubled last year’s totals, data from Croatian National Bank (HNB) shows.

The investments so far amount to 485.3 million Euros. Last year’s total of 232.5 million Euros was the lowest amount in the last 15 years. The record high was registered in 2008 when foreign investments amounted to 4.2 billion Euros.

Banks - or financial mediation - were the most frequent destinations for foreign money in the first six months of 2011 (286.5 million Euros). Right behind come metal manufacturing activities (173.8 million Euros), investments in real estate businesses (97.1 million Euros) and real estate purchases (74.2 million Euros).Americans are the largest investors so far this year, followed by Austrians (138.1 million Euros) and Germans (44.3 million Euros).

Since 1992, Croatia received 24.72 billion Euros of foreign investment led by Austria (6.2 billion Euros), the Netherlands (3.7 billion Euros), and Germany (three billion Euros).

Foreign investors put most money in banks (8.7 billion Euros), followed by wholesale trade (2.7 billion Euros), oil derivatives production (1.6 billion Euros), real estate businesses (1.5 billion) and chemical industry (1.2 billion Euros).

According to HNB data, Croatian firms invested 59.1 million Euros abroad so far this year. The total investments abroad have been four billion Euros since 1993.


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Interesting to see that Americans have moved up the table to number one position.
The investment total is only just over 10% of what it was back in 2008, but its a good sign. Maybe its got something to do with HRs pending EU membership?

[crojoe]

With all this new investment the question is how does it affect the economy? Is it creating new jobs, is it helping exports or is it in another shopping centre (like the new City centre One going up on the other side of Zagreb, as though the place needs another one). Every shopping centre is now like 10 minutes away from each other, some just a few blocks. I wonder what the obsession is. The biggest problem I see with the shopping centres is each one has the same shops in them, mostly foreign, so I don't see how that helps the Croatian economy other then taxation on goods and sales. Ok, they hire people, but not really that many.

Maybe on the coast there is more investment in hotels going on?

[Madgolfer]

At the "Invest in Croatia" conference last week all the talk and emphasis was about large investment projects, I wonder how much of the real money invested is from smaller companies, projects etc.

There are people investing in Croatia on a smaller scale, looking to pick up real estate rather than watch their cash dwindle away in banks elsewhere, but it cannot account for that much.

I agree about the shopping mall complex CJ, very strange. I can only assume that "they" are trying to create a massive consumer based society......and we all know how well that works!

[crojoe]

Other then the coast, what does Croatia have to export? Other then it's people, and some olives, some wines and some "experts" most other things have fallen by the way side, such as clothing manufacturing in Varasdin, not a lot comes from crops in Osijek and the wine, well, that kind of only benefits some. Even the beer industry in Croatia doesn’t seem to export that much. No one makes any cars, not much furniture and hardly any clothing. And, I don't know what "expert" or speed industries Croatia has. There is the ship building, but even that is faltering, as is the steel, cement and similar industries out there.

With all that industry gone or going or border-line of survival the question is where are people getting the money from? Ok, we got the big telecommunication companies and what I might term "service industries" like Metro's, T-com, TV, INA and then the government groups with electricity, water and such stuff no one can do without and must pay for each month (or that are guaranteed income), but that’s only so many. Is it that the coast is that lucrative during summer that it seems most people through the year? Be kind of cool to see a proper survey on how many people are in certain types of jobs, both private and government.

Like they always say in July that unemployment is down (I wonder why?), but then obviously it goes way back up after summer. Do they then also count all the students in work during the summer? Anyway, just be interesting to know these numbers to get a better picture of the future of Croatia.