Accordinf to the Austrian financial institution, the region was hit by deleveraging, and that the 11 newest EU member nations saw their FDI drop by an average of almost two-thirds.

 

Of these countries only Romania and Bulgaria saw FDI increases, of 27.4 percent and 2.1 percent respectively.

 

The overall decline for the 11 new member states was of 64.5 percent, according to the report.

 

The five largest CIS states including Russia and Ukraine saw considerable FDI increases of over 25 percent, while Western Balkans countries saw a more moderate FDI increase of 2 percent.

 

Private equity funds poured over EUR 70 million in Romania last year, 2.5 times the amount they invested in 2012. These investments represented 0.05 percent of Romania’s GDP in 2013, compared to 0.02 percent in 2012, according to a report from European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), quoted by Mediafax.

 

Private equity funds started retreating from the market in 2009, after the value of projects peaked in 2008 at EUR 294 million. The following year, the Romanian market attracted EUR 221 million and every year since then the value dropped, until 2011 when it bottomed out at EUR 28 million.

 

British and Polish groups were the most active in Romania last year, covering 21.2 percent of transactions, 10.9 percent respectively. Most of the placements were performed for taking over companies (EUR 47.8 million) or increasing participation in companies (EUR 9.5 million). Another EUR 3 million were allocated for developing new activities. (source: business-review.eu)