DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2003 STOOD AT USD 1.2 BILLION

ZAGREB, Jan 17 (Hina) - Direct foreign investments in Croatia in the first nine months of 2003 amounted to US1.18 billion, while foreign investments from 1993 through September 2003 totalled 8.75 billion, according to Croatian National Bank data.#L# Of the said 1.18 billion, 675.9 million was realised on the basis on undistributed and reinvested profits, 379.5 million were other investments, while 124.8 million were ownership investments. The good business results affected the growth of reinvested profits, notably in telecommunications and financial brokerage. The drugs company Pliva reported significant reinvested profits too. The aforementioned other investments refer to loans between the direct investor and the company invested in as well as to loans between two or more companies which share the same foreign investor. Of the 124.8 million ownership investments, 19.4 percent went into the purchase and sale of foreign investors' own real estate, 16.4 percent into other retail trade in non-specialised shops, and 13.8 percent into banking. In the period between 1993 through September 2003, the highest sums from abroad went into ownership investments, 5.45 billion of a total 8.75 billion, while 2.08 billion were other investments and 1.23 billion were undistributed profits. Telecommunications remain the principal field of direct foreign investments, accounting for 24.5 percent of the entire figure, while 22.7 percent went into the banking sector and 12.8 percent into the pharmaceutical industry. Broken down by country, Austria was the biggest direct foreign investor in the past decade, accounting for 30.1 percent of the entire figure, followed by the U.S. with 25.4 percent and Germany with 14.4 percent. As for Croatian companies' investments abroad, they amounted to 41.95 million in the first nine months of 2003 and to 1.12 billion from 1993 through September 2003. (Hina) ha