ZAGREB HOSTS CONFERENCE ON INVESTMENTS IN CEE REGION

ZAGREB, May 21 (Hina) - The entry of foreign capital on the market in central and south-east Europe began in the mid-1990s, gaining momentum in 2000-1, when the risks to investments in the region were diminished. #L# Attracting direct foreign investment has shown to be the logical choice, the director of the Direction for Macro-economic and Finance Research of the Raiffeisen Bank, Ante Zigman, said at a conference entitled 'Financial and Investment Opportunities in the CEE Region', which is part of the Seventh Financial Forum that began in Zagreb on Tuesday. Since gaining independence, Croatia has attracted about US$7 billion in direct foreign investment. However, compared to some other countries in the region, like the Czech Republic, Croatia has not attracted enough so-called greenfield investments, i.e. investments to motivate productivity. The head economist of Privredna banka Zagreb, Martina Dalic, said that the most frequent objection by foreigners entering into ownership deals in Croatian banks is that this increases the number of channels to drain financial sources out of the country, and that the banking sector is a strategic industry that should be kept under domestic control. Speaking about the advantages of this direction of development, Dalic stressed that it, nevertheless, reinstalled Croatian citizens' trust in the banking sector, mobilised savings, increased competitiveness, led to a decrease in interest rates, and raised the level of loan activities. (hina) sp sb