Investments in Moldova down 23% in Q1

The investments in fixed capital in the first quarter of 2010 totaled 880.4 million lei, a decrease of 23.4% compared with the corresponding period last year, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communique from the Ministry of Economy. The own means of the companies and population make up 63.5% of the total investments in fixed capital, the money of the foreign investors – 23.5%, the bank loans – 63%, while the money allocated from the public budget - only 5%, down about 3%. The investments made in joint, public and private companies decreased by about 60%on the first quarter of 2009, while those made in national private companies – by 38.9%. At the same time, the investments in public companies rose by 3.3%. The volume of net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) started to fall in the fourth quarter of 2008 and continued to fall in 2009. The FDI in the fourth quarter of 2008 came to US$150.9 million, while in 2009 – US$86.4 million, down 8.2 times compared with 2008. The financial activities on January 1, 2010 accounted for 22.0% of the FDI, retail and wholesale trade – 19.0%, processing industry – 18.0%, transactions with real estate – 17.5%, transport and communications – 8.9%, electric power, gas and water – 7.9%. The Ministry of Economy said 73.6% of the FDI represent investments from the EU, while 8.9% - from the CIS, 7.7% of which from Russia. The Netherlands is the most important investor with a share of 17.5% .