July 10 (SeeNews) - Serbia attracted 70% of the greenfield investment into the Western Balkans in 2018, fDi Intelligence, a data division of London-based newspaper The Financial Times, said.
Serbia, the largest Western Balkan country by landmass and population, led the region in 2018 with a record $5.98 billion (5.33 billion euro) invested into 105 greenfield projects, fDi Intelligence said earlier this week, quoting data from greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets.
In its "Global greenfield investment trends" report issued earlier this year, fDi Intelligence said Serbia attracted capital investment of 6 billion euro last year, or 3% of Europe's total.
The total inbound greenfield foreign investment in 2018 into the Western Balkans amounted to $9.36 billion into 147 projects, marking the second highest flows since records began in 2003, fDi Intelligence said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina accounted for 11.6% of total greenfield investment into the region, despite attracting four fewer greenfield projects than in 2017. On the other hand Montenegro performed well in 2018, attracting a record 11 greenfield FDI projects.
According to the latest annual fDi Markets data from June 2018 to May 2019, North Macedonia and Albania attracted $184.4 million and $809.9 million of inbound greenfield investment, respectively, as the number of inbound greenfield projects rose by 200% and 80%, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Despite Western Balkan countries attracting significantly less greenfield FDI projects than their counterparts in central, eastern and western Europe, the region performs very well relative to its share of global GDP.
($ = 0.89145 euro)