Zagreb, April 8 (Hina) - With 4.5 billion US dollars of foreign investments in the last seven years, which were mainly used for the coverage of the budgetary outlays, Croatia is lagging behind some countries in transition which have
used foreign capital to improve the economic structure and accelerate the economic growth.
Zagreb, April 8 (Hina) - With 4.5 billion US dollars of foreign
investments in the last seven years, which were mainly used for the
coverage of the budgetary outlays, Croatia is lagging behind some
countries in transition which have used foreign capital to improve
the economic structure and accelerate the economic growth.#L#
It remains to be seen whether the expected enhanced credit rating of
Croatia, after it reached stand-by arrangement with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), will attract more greenfield
investments in Croatia which mostly help the economic development
and employment. So far, Croatia has few investments of such kind.
Most investments in Croatia have to date referred to the existent
property. They bring new technologies and necessary capital but do
not increase the number of new jobs.
Foreign capital invested in the privatisation of state-owned
companies finished at a large scale as the means for the coverage of
'holes' in the state budget rather than in export-orientated
production.
The biggest part of foreign investments in the last two years
referred to the process of privatisation of companies such as
Hrvatski Telekom (HT) and banks: Privredna Banka Zagreb, Rijecka
and Splitska.
According to figures released by the Croatian National Bank (HNB),
over $4.5 billion was invested in Croatia from 1993 to September
2000. Of it, 3.62 billion referred to the ownership investment and
the rest to investments in credit relations, undistributed profit
etc.
Two thirds of the ownership investment cover just three activities
- telecommunications (over 24 percent), commercial banking (21
percent) and the pharmaceutical production (20).
Only three percent refers to production of crude oil and natural gas
and the production of cement. The wholesale trade, production of
tiles, industrial gasses, beer and soft drinks, ceramic tiles and
sanitary ware account for between one and two percent.
As regards the years, 1999 was most successful with $1.4 billion. Of
it, $1.2 billion was invested by Deutsche Telekom for the purchase
of 35 percent of shares of HT.
In the first nine months of 2000, foreigners invested some 760
million dollars and 77 percent of it was given in the privatisation
of several Croatian banks.
In the last seven years, investors from the United States with 1.1
billion accounted for one quarter of all foreign investors in
Croatia. They were followed by Germans with a little above one
billion dollars. Austrians were the third-placed with investing
895 million dollars. These three countries accounted for two thirds
of foreign investments.
Lower in the list of 30 countries is Luxembourg ($318 million). The
countries which invested over 100 million are the Netherlands ($170
million), Italy ($123), Sweden ($105.7) and Great Britain ($102.6
million).
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
invested 99 million.
(hina) ms