Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first six months of the year stood at 1.8 billion euro, the equivalent of 1.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed on August 17.
In the same period of 2022, FDI was 916.1 million euro, but the BNB originally reported 289.2 million euro, which was revised upward later.
Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, was 259.6 million euro (compared to 223 million euro in the first half of 2022) and the BNB figures showed 1.48 billion euro in re-invested earnings (compared to 591.5 million euro for the first six months of last year.)
Net receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies recorded a net outflow of 6.1 million euro, including 7.3 million euro towards Russia, compared to an outflow of 14 million euro recorded in January-June 2022.
The central bank data showed 59.9 million euro in investment inflows as debt instruments, recorded as the change in the net liabilities of Bulgarian companies towards their foreign investor owners, compared to 101.7 million euro in the first six months of 2022. Such financial flows include financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities, BNB said.
By country, the largest direct investment in Bulgaria in the first half of the year came from the Netherlands (508.9 million euro), Austria (231.5 million euro) and Belgium (203 million euro). Notable net outflows were recorded towards Italy (-73.7 million euro) and Romania (-44.4 million euro).
According to preliminary figures, Bulgarian investment abroad increased by 209.3 million euro in January-June, compared to 245.7 million euro in the same period of last year, BNB said.