FDI favors Lithuania

  • 2004-08-26
  • Baltic News Service
VILNIUS - Lithuania still lags behind Latvia and Estonia in terms of foreign direct investment per capita, though investment flow to Lithuania was the largest among three countries in the first quarter of 2004.

As of late March, FDI per capita in Lithuania totaled 1,200 euros, while for Latvia and Estonia the figures were 1,300 euros and 4,100 euros respectively, according to Vilniaus Bankas, Lithuania's leading commercial bank.
FDI flow to Lithuania totaled 186 million euros in the first quarter of 2004, surpassing Latvia's inflow (110 million euros) by 69 percent and Estonia's (162 million euros) by 15 percent.
"It means that foreign investors have not forgotten Lithuania," Vilija Tauraite, Vilniaus Bankas' chief analyst, said.
Latvia and Estonia lacked new foreign investments as the major share of FDI in those countries constituted reinvestments, said Tauraite.
Green-field and brown-field investments made up 331 million litas (94.5 million euros), or 51.5 percent of total FDI inflow in the first quarter of 2004, while reinvestments totaled 221 million litas.
In the future, growth in FDI could accelerate on the back of improvements in the investment climate, Tauraite said.