668.6 MILLION BAM OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN BIH FOR THE NINE MONTHS 2018



According to the preliminary data published by the Central Bank of BH, foreign direct investments for the first nine months of 2018 amount to BAM 668.6 million (EUR 341.9 million), thus reaching a slight increase by 0, 1% compared to 2017), but also maintained a trend of increase compared to the five-year average of foreign investments of 21.6%. The largest amount of investments last year comes from Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Great Britain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Russian Federation.

The Director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of BiH (FIPA) Gordan Milinić emphasizes that, considering the election year 2018 and an unstable political situation that was a dominant and unavoidable topic in all talks with potential foreign investors, this is a very good result, which confirms that Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of all the problems and difficulties, is a country attractive for foreign investors. More effort is needed from all institutions, from the municipal through the cantonal and entity levels to the state authorities, in order to reach a desired level of foreign investments reach which would be a driver of economic growth in BiH. In particular, this refers to the implementation of the "Invest in BiH" media campaign and implementation of incentives for foreign investors at all levels of authorities, following example of the neighbouring countries.

The total amount of foreign direct investments in BiH exceeded 14 billion BAM. Within the group of countries of South-eastern Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked at the 2^nd   position by foreign direct investments.

Foreign direct investment increasing trend in BiH is continuing. 778 million BAM of foreign investments were registered in 2017, which is about 40% more than in 2016.

Investment growth is the result of the work of the competent institutions in creating better investment conditions, finding new investors for BiH, and implementing the necessary reforms and strengthening the country's competitiveness both for domestic and foreign investors, at a much faster dynamics than it was before.

The growth of economic indicators in the country, which implies the creation of new jobs for BiH citizens, additionally obliges us to work more successfully on the implementation of the necessary economic reforms that will attract new investors and create new jobs.