Foreign Investments In Europe Before the World Crisis

Although each investor is looking for the best investment, the decisions of the others reveal important characteristics of the investment destinations. The last reliable data internationally is available for 2008, the start of the world economic crisis. In the business cycle before the big criris the Visegrad Countries, especially Hungary and Slovakia has been very attractive investment targets.

The World Bank data are partly misleading, as they comprise equity FDI into the financial sector, which will partly be used elsewhere, where loans or insurance claims are made - this makes the Benelux area and the UK slightly incompatible with the rest of Europe. However, in Central Europe most of the direct investment went into manufacturing and services. The big question is if the Visegrad Countries will remain competitive after the crisis. The answer is most probably yes: Poland has conducted a large-scale privatization program during the world economic crisis and maintained growth even in 2009. The currency devaluation in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary will help export greatly in 2010.