FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CROATIA IN 2000 AMOUNT TO US1.4 BILLION

FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CROATIA IN 2000 AMOUNT TO US1.4 BILLION ZAGREB, Oct 4 (Hina) - Foreign investments into Croatia last year amounted to US$1.4 billion and according to temporary data provided by the central bank, foreign investments in the first half of 2000 have exceeded US$582.2 million. The process of privatisation of some companies accounts for the largest part of foreign investments in 1999 and 2000. In Croatia's case, most investments referred to mergers and take- overs and there has been very few greenfield investments, said the head of the Croatian National Bank's (HNB) statistics department, Igor Jemric. Foreign investments in Croatia in 1999 increased by 56.73 percent in relation to 1998, Jemric said at the presentation of the annual U.N. Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report last Tuesday. The report focused on international mergers, take-overs and company development. Most last year's investments and those from the first half of 2000 refer to ownership investments - as much as 1.2 billion of 1.4 billion dollars of last year's investments account for ownership investments. These investments have doubled whereas other forms of investment have dropped. Last year, investments into credit relations accounted for US$151.6 million, whereas the retained profit which was re-invested into companies amounted to 47 million dollars. These data, too, show that most foreign investments were made in the process of privatisation. "Without one well-known major investment, the level of foreign investments would be 50 percent lower," said Jemric, adding he could not present data for individual firms. What Jemric was referring to is the arrival of Deutsche Telekom in Croatian Telekom. According to his data, investments into telecommunications accounted for as much as 73 percent of last year's investments. Investments in the banking sector accounted for 6.43 percent of foreign investments. However, investments into commercial banking dominated the first half of this year and accounted for 85 percent of the 582.2 million of foreign investments in the first half of 2000. It is known that income from the sale of the Privredna Banka Zagreb, Splitska Banka and the Rijecka Banka in the first half of this year has flowed into the budget. Countries which invested most in Croatia last year are EU countries, with Germany covering 65.26 percent (or US$918.7 million) of annual investments. In the period between 1993 and mid-2000, just below 4.3 billion dollars was invested in Croatia. The United States has been the leading investor with 26.1 percent (US$1.1 billion), followed by Germany with investments worth just above one billion dollars. Data also show that most foreign investments were directed into the Croatian capital. Between 1993 and mid-2000, Zagreb accounted for 80 percent of all foreign investments while the share of other counties was less than five percent (Istria County - 4.25 percent and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County with just above three percent). According to the HNB data, Croatian investments abroad between 1993 and mid-2000 were worth US$384 million, of which the largest part referred to the pharmaceutical industry. (hina) rml