According to the latest data of the CNB, the total amount of direct foreign investments in Croatia in the first nine months of last year amounted to 666 million euros.
Excluding the effect of the so-called. circular investments (which have the effect of increasing direct investment in both directions, ie, in the Republic of Croatia and abroad) in June 2014, foreign direct investment in the first three quarters of 2015 to 647 mil. euros lower than in the same period last year ( a decline of almost 50% year on year).
Preliminary data CNB show that in the period during the first three quarters of last year most of the foreign investment (nearly 78%) came from the equity investment in the production of tobacco products, which is predominantly a result of the conclusion of the purchase agreement for the sale of Rovinj Tobacco Factory (TDR) property Adris group with multinational British American Tobacco (BAT) in late September.
The following are investments in real estate sector and real estate (with a common share of 24.8% of total investments) and investments in the sector of wholesale and retail trade (with a common share of 17.3% of total investments), while investment in construction industry reached 11.5% of total direct investment during the first nine months. At the same time, due to the posting of recorded losses of the banks due to conversion of loans in Swiss francs, investments in financial intermediation in the same period registered a negative value of 600 mil. Euros.
Looking at the statistics of foreign investment to countries in the first three quarters of 2015, the most direct investments (88%) came from the United Kingdom (which is a direct result of the aforementioned transactions taking TDR). They are followed by investments originating from Luxembourg (with a share of 38.6% of total investments) and the Netherlands (16.8%).
In the period since 1993 (since the available statistics FDI) until the end of September 2015, Croatia recorded 30.1 billion. euro value of foreign direct investment. Excluding the aforementioned effect of the so-called. circular investment, this amount is lower and amounts to 27.7 billion. euros.
Within the definition of the main strategic objectives of the new government, expected to be more vigorous commitment to remove the most problematic factors of doing business in Croatia (primarily the inefficiency of public administration and the judiciary, and the complexity of the legislation), which is a prerequisite for stronger encouragement of foreign investment, particularly in the tradable sector.