Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first five months of the year stood at 1.75 billion euro, the equivalent of 1.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed on July 19.
In the same period of 2022, FDI was 922.7 billion euro, but the BNB originally reported 871.2 million euro, which was revised upward later.
Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, was 242.6 million euro (compared to 169.3 million euro in the first five months of 2022) and the BNB figures showed 983.1 million euro in re-invested earnings (compared to 725.4 million euro for the first five months of last year.)
Net receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies recorded an outflow of one million euro, including 4.7 million euro towards Russia, compared to an outflow of 10.3 million euro recorded in January-May 2022.
The central bank data showed 522 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 28 million euro in the first five 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 five months of the year came from the Netherlands (567.1 million euro), Greece (326.7 million euro) and Belgium (142.2 million euro). Notable net outflows were recorded towards Italy (-86 million euro).
According to preliminary figures, Bulgarian investment abroad increased by 152.9 million euro in January-May, compared to 199.1 million euro in the same period of last year, BNB said.