The Ukrainian authorities are constantly promoting their country’s “good investment climate” among foreign investors. However, Ukraine still is not a place where regular investors from the West could bring their resources to pursue business ventures in a safe and lawful way.
The Ukrainian government has presented a strategy of economic development for the next five years, which assumes rapid GDP growth. However, if this plan is successfully implemented, then a significant part of state revenues will go to foreign creditors, as a kind of “penalty for development”.
In the middle of October 2019, Velvon Bank, the sister company of the Czech online bank Air Bank, announced that it had been granted a German banking license. Velvon chose Munich as the seat for its German operations.
Serbia lacks investment from domestic businesses, and fixed assets are insufficient to provide stable, long-term growth. Growth in gross fixed capital formation in the H1’19 was 8.2 per cent, which was the main demand factor in stimulating the growth of GDP.
Germany sank into a technical recession in the Q2’19, its GDP fell 0.1 per cent. It worries most of the Western Balkan countries, as they depend on German economy.
In 2018, the Western Balkans recorded the largest inflow of greenfield direct investment (FDI) with the value of USD9.36bn in 2018, the highest amount since 2003, according to the fDi report
Bosnia and Herzegovina changes its 13 years old VAT regulations. Due to the complex political system of BiH, all the important regulations had to be discussed in parliaments of both entities: the parliament of the Federation of BiH and the parliament of the Republic of Srpska.
For many years the role of foreign capital in the economic transition of the countries of Central and Southeast Europe (CSE) was seen as a very positive influence.
FDI were perceived as exploiters and poisoners, but investors have developed their policies in the social responsibility of business to fight this perception, and they partly succeeded, said prof. Beata Javorcik.
For the first time in six years FDI in Europe decreased. In 2018 there were 6,356 FDI projects, 4 per cent less than in 2017, according to EY European Attractiveness Survey.
