Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first four months of the year stood at EUR 653.2 million, the equivalent of 0.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed on June 17.
In the same period of 2021, FDI was EUR 196.8 million, but the BNB originally reported EUR 187.9 million, which was revised upward later.
Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, was EUR 32.5 million (compared to an outflow of EUR 215.5 million in the first four months of 2021) and the BNB figures showed EUR 647.2 million in re-invested earnings (compared to EUR 763.6 million in the same period of last year).
Net receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies totalled an outflow of EUR 5.3 million, compared to an outflow of EUR 0.3 million recorded in January-April 2021.
The central bank data showed EUR 26.5 million in investment outflows as debt instruments, recorded as the change in the net liabilities of Bulgarian companies towards their foreign investor owners, compared to an outflow of EUR 351.3 million in the first four months of 2021. Such financial flows include financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities, BNB said.
By country, the largest direct investment in Bulgaria in January-April came from the Netherlands (EUR 485.8 million), Belgium (EUR 163.1 million) and Austria (EUR 120.9 million). Notable net outflows were recorded towards Luxembourg (EUR -58.6 million) and Germany (EUR -56.2 million).
According to preliminary figures, Bulgarian investment abroad increased by EUR 107.2 million in the first four months of the year, compared to EUR 62.6 million in the same period of 2021, BNB said.