* Source for Host Country Data:  Bulgarian National Bank

Bulgaria’s FDI flows for 2020 were USD 2.6 billion (EUR 2.1 billion), or 3.5 percent of 2020 GDP, compared to USD 1.4 billion, or 1.9 percent of GDP, in 2019.

Note: For inward investment, the Netherlands holds the top place largely because various companies, most notably Russia’s Lukoil, channel investments to Bulgaria through Dutch subsidiaries.  While official data routinely lists the United States as the 13th largest source of FDI into Bulgaria, a 2018 study by AmCham and the Institute for Market Economics, which accounted for investment flows via European subsidiaries of U.S. companies, put the United States in sixth place.  Marshall Islands is popular tax haven for Bulgarian oligarchs.

Bulgarian owners often use Luxembourg to incorporate companies.   An independent international media investigation in February 2021 revealed some BGN 1 billion (USD 617 million) in assets by Bulgarian-owned companies in Luxembourg.

* GDP for 2019  and FDI at www.hnb.hr. Note:  U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) does not have GDP or FDI data available for 2020 at time of publishing. 2018 is the last available date for Host Country FDI in the U.S.

*FDI at www.hnb.hr

Table 4: Sources of Portfolio Investment
Data not available.

As of 2015, the Czech National Bank records cross-border equity capital stocks for quoted shares (in line with the ESA 2010 and BPM6 international manuals) at market value instead of book value, rather than valuing FDI as the sum of historical flows, which is the methodology used by the United States.  This explains the large discrepancy between U.S. and Czech figures for 2019.

The IMF rankings for the top five sources and destinations of FDI stock are consistent with data from the Czech National Bank.  IMF and Czech National Bank figures for inward direct investment vary by up to 4 percent and figures for outward direct investment vary by up to 16 percent.  These statistical distortions are a result of the global adoption of the revised OECD Benchmark Definition for FDI, which is designed to discount investment flows from special purpose entities.

The top sources and destinations of Czech FDI represent a combination of major EU trading partners and favored tax regimes.  In the early 1990s, the Netherlands became a popular location for corporate registration for domestic and foreign businesses active in the Czech Republic.  In recent years, the main rationale for registering a business in the Netherlands was favorable corporate income taxes, stimulating rapid development of offshore corporate structures in the Czech Republic.  While this has dissipated (corporate income tax rates in the Czech Republic and Netherlands are nearly equal), the Netherlands remains a popular platform for large corporations given its robust network of investment agreement protections.  Luxembourg attracts Czech businesses for similar reasons.  Among other FDI partner countries, Cyprus offers one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU (currently 12.5 percent) and tax exemption of dividends.

The Czech National Bank does not provide its own statistical data on portfolio investments by individual countries but provides a reference to IMF data on its website.  As far as portfolio investment assets for all countries, the 2019 IMF results are consistent with the Czech National Bank’s data.

* Source for Host Country Data: Bank of Estonia https://www.eestipank.ee/en/statistics

Source: CDIS Table 1: Direct Investment Positions (Inward and Outward) – IMF Data

Source: Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey – Portfolio Investment Assets – IMF Data

* Source for Host Country Data: 2021 Hungarian National Bank, www.mnb.hu   

* Source for Host Country Data:

http://www.fm.gov.lv/en/s/macroeconomics/main_macroeconomic_indicators/ 
https://statdb.bank.lv 
https://www.macroeconomics.lv/ 

* Source for Host Country Data: Department of Statistics

* Source for Host Country Data: Malta National Statistics Office

** Exchange rates: $1 = €0.893 (2019 figures); $1 = €0.848 (2018 figures)

* Source for Host Country Data: In Poland, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) collects data on FDI. An annual FDI report and data are published at the end of the following year. GDP data are published by the Central Statistical Office. Final annual data are available at the end of May of the following year.

D/ Suppressed to avoid disclosure of data of individual companies.

Results of table are consistent with the data of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).  NBP publishes FDI data in October/November.

A number of foreign countries register businesses in the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Cyprus, hence results for these countries include investments from other countries/economies.

* In Poland, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) collects data on FDI. An annual FDI report and data are published at the end of the following year. GDP data are published by the Central Statistical Office. Final annual data are available at the end of May of the following year.

* Source for Host Country Data:

National Statistics Institute: https://insse.ro/cms/ 

National Bank of Romania: https://www.bnr.ro/

National Office of the Trade Register: https://www.onrc.ro/ 

*Bank of Slovenia; published in November 2020

N.B.: The Bank of Slovenia (BoS), in its official data, lists U.S. FDI at approximately EUR 172 million in 2019, or 1.1 percent of total inward FDI. However, this amount does not reflect significant investments by U.S. firms not listed as U.S. in origin by the BoS, as U.S. funds are often routed through third-country subsidiaries. In 2017, the BoS began reporting FDI according to the ultimate investing country or originating country of capital. It estimated that USD 1.78 billion (EUR 1.48 billion euros) or 9.3 percent of Slovenia’s total FDI originated in the United States in 2019, putting the United States behind Austria, Germany, and Italy as a source of foreign investment in Slovenia.

Source: IMF’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (2019) CDIS Table 1: Direct Investment Positions (Inward and Outward) – IMF Data

Comment: IMF data are consistent with Bank of Slovenia data.

Note: The Bank of Slovenia has made an additional breakdown of inward FDI according to the ultimate source of capital. It shows that Germany, the United States, Japan, the Russian Federation, and Mexico are all much more important investor countries in Slovenia than is suggested by the breakdown by the immediate partner country. The U.S. ranks fourth with 1.48 billion euros (USD 1.78 billion) in 2019.

Source: IMF’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey   Table 1: Reported Portfolio Investment Assets by Economy of Nonresident Issuer – IMF Data