October 17 (SeeNews) - The stock of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Slovenia totalled 11.6 billion euro ($12.8 billion) at the end of 2015, up 13.4% year-on-year, the country's central bank said on Monday.
The inflow in the form of equity transactions amounted to 1,353.6 million euro in 2015, largely as a result of investments in financial and insurance activities and in real estate (835.8 million euro in total), the central bank said in a statement.
After two years of losses, firms with foreign owners recorded a profit of 936.8 million euro in 2015, most notably manufacturing firms. As a result, after six years of divestments, reinvested earnings became positive in the amount of 449.2 million euro, up by just over 1 billion euro on the previous year.
Foreign owners provided net financing to Slovenian firms throughout the 1994 to 2015 horizon, while transactions in debt instruments reduced the net debt to foreign owners by 337.7 million euro in 2015, the bank noted.
The stock of equity reached 9,772.4 million euro at the end of 2015, or 84.5% of the total stock of FDI, while net liabilities to foreign investors accounted for the remaining 15.5%.
The most important investor countries were Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia. In terms of activity, the largest investments were in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and financial and insurance activities.
At the end of 2015 firms with FDI accounted for 4.5% of the entire population of Slovenian firms (excluding financial intermediaries).
The stock of Slovenian outward FDI amounted to 5.5 billion euro at the end of last year, up 2.4% on the previous year.
The five largest recipients of Slovenian outward FDI included four former Yugoslav republics, which accounted for 60.8% of total outward FDI, and Russia.
($=0.909479 euro)