Larger investment in Moldovan economy

The attraction of investment into the economy is the most important factor contributing to larger and more diversified exports, Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon said while speaking about the implementation of the Investment Attraction and Export Promotion Strategy for 2006 – 2015 at Wednesday’s meeting of the acting Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. Analyzing the results achieved in 2007 in the two areas, Dodon said that the goals set in the Strategy had been achieved. In some cases, the results beat forecasts. The strategy includes measures aimed at ensuring a 25% investment growth a year. In 2007, the rise was 28%. The investments in fixed-capital rose by 20%, as against a yearly growth of 8-15% planned in the Strategy, totaling 15 billion lei. Some 50% of the investments in fixed-capital were resources allocated by companies and the population. The foreign direct investment in 2007 doubled on 2006, adding up to 450 million dollars. The exports of goods and services grew by 27.6%. The EU countries absorbed about 50% of the exports. Igor Dodon said that the investments per regions in the past few years have been evenly distributed. The investments in rural areas last year came to 7 billion lei. This money was mainly invested in building gas supply networks, water supply and sewerage projects, in building infrastructure. The largest investments to Moldova in 2007, about 60% of the total volume, came from the EU, mainly from the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and other countries.