June 12 (SeeNews) - Romania and Serbia are the only countries in Southeast Europe (SEE) included in the top 15 foreign direct investment destinations in Europe for 2017, according to a survey conducted by global consultancy Ernst&Young (EY).
Romania occupies the 13th place in the ranking, with a total of 126 FDI projects launched in 2017, down 5%, Ernst&Young (EY) said in its June 2018 Attractiveness Survey Europe.
Serbia entered the ranking of the top 15 FDI destinations for the first time, in 14th place. The number of FDI projects launched in the country rose by 157% to 118 in 2017.
A total of 16,490 FDI-related jobs opened in Romania in 2017, while in Serbia they amounted to 20,103, backed by increasing inward investment, the survey showed.
The region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) secured more than 50% of the FDI-related jobs created in Europe last year, as it offers the benefit of faster economic growth than Western Europe, under the umbrella of EU membership, EY said.
FDI into Romania increased by 1.5% in 2017 to an estimated 4.586 billion euro ($5.41 billion), while in Serbia it grew to 2.6 billion euro from 1.861 billion euro.
($ = 0.847595 euro)