Foreign investments in Belarus down 12.7% to $7bn in H1
2012-08-02 18:07:53
In H1 this year foreign investments into the production sector of Belarus (banks not included) amounted to $6.975 billion, which was down 12.7% as against the first half of 2011, BelTA learnt from the National Statistics Committee.
Belarus’ main investors were Russia (40.9% of investment), United Kingdom (30.8%), Cyprus (5.8%), and Austria (4.8%). The largest amounts of foreign investments were channeled into the trade sector (43% of total investments), transport (28.9%), and industry (20.6%).
Gross foreign direct investments (FDI) accounted for 78.4% of total foreign investment. Compared with H1 2011, the gross FDI wend down by 3.3%. The main instruments of raising direct investment from abroad were debt instruments (89.2% of the total direct investment).
The largest amounts of gross FDI were invested in the trade (48.9% of total direct investment), transport (34.6%), and industry (11.3%).
Significant volumes of FDI came from Russia (47.2% of total direct investments). Some 36.3% came from residents of the United Kingdom, 3.4% from Cyprus and 3.1% from Ukraine.
In January-June Belarus received other foreign investment (not FDI) in the amount of $1.5 billion, down 35.6% from the same period last year. They accounted for 21.6% of gross foreign investment.
In H1 2012, the largest amounts of foreign investors were funneled into projects in Minsk (78.6%), Gomel Oblast (6.3%) and Minsk Oblast (4.5%).
Besides raising foreign investments, Belarus also invested funds abroad. In H1 2012, Belarusian companies (except for banks) invested $3.1 billion abroad, up by 24.8% compared to H1 2011.
The bulk of investments went to Russia (30.5% of all the funds invested abroad), the United Kingdom (21.4%), Ukraine (14.9%), the Netherlands (8.7%), Germany (7.4%), Austria (5.2%), Switzerland (4.9%). Most of investments came from trading companies (58.7% of all investments), industrial enterprises (31.1%), and transport companies (8.3%).
FDI accounted for 69.3% of all funds invested in other countries, up 1.6 times over H1 2011. Most of FDI were invested in the form of debt instruments (98%). This includes debts for goods, works and services owed to Belarusian resident companies. In H1 2012 this type of investments made up $2.1 billion, up 1.6 times compared to H1 2011.
The bulk of FDI abroad were invested by trading companies (51.5%), industrial enterprises (36.1%), and transport companies (10.6%). Most of FDI were channeled to Russia (38.5%), the United Kingdom (30.8%), Ukraine (20.9%), Lithuania (2.4%), and Kazakhstan (2.3%).
The other types of investments were estimated at $952.4 million, down by 17.2% compared to H1 2011. They accounted for 30.7% of all the funds invested abroad. Most of the funds were invested by companies of Minsk (72%), Minsk Oblast (11.5%) and Mogilev Oblast (7.3%).