Nearly 700 Million KM in Foreign Investments in BiH in 2019

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The inflow of foreign direct investment into Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019 amounted to 699 million KM, according to data from the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBiH), which published statistics on foreign direct investment for 2019. In terms of geographical distribution, the largest inflow of investments during 2019 was from Russia (211 million KM), followed by Croatia (117 million KM).

By economic activity, the most investments were realized in the production of coke and refined petroleum products (202 million KM), financial services (banking sector, 154 million KM), and wholesale trade (92 million KM).

The lower inflow of investments compared to 2018, which, according to revised data, amounted to 952 million KM, was caused, among other things, by increased dividend payments in the last quarter of 2019, as well as the takeover of foreign-owned companies by domestically-owned companies. At the end of 2019, the stock of foreign direct investment amounted to 15.02 billion KM.

This amount represents the result of investments in previous years, as well as the operations of foreign-owned companies. The largest stock of direct investments is still related to Austria (2.7 billion KM), Croatia (2.4 billion KM), and Serbia (close to 2.0 billion KM). By economic activity, the largest stock of foreign direct investment is in financial services (3.7 billion KM), followed by telecommunications (1.7 billion KM) and wholesale trade (1.2 billion KM).

In line with the revision policy and based on additional data, revisions were also made for the previous two years with the publication of data for 2019.