The Decisions adopted by the Governing Board on the occasion of its 299th regular meeting on 4 November 2004

11/04/2004 / Press release

Decisions adopted by the Governing Board on the occasion of its 299th regular meeting:

  1. The Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia also amended the Decision on Reporting for the Purposes of the Financial Accounts´ Statistics. For reporting by non-financial companies (Sector S.11), a threshold of 200 million SIT of the balance sheet total, providing a sufficient capture of the necessary data, was adopted by means of amending.
  2. The Governing Board also adopted a publication of direct investment in 1994 - 2003. Merely 2% of Slovene companies make investment abroad in the form of direct investment, whereas the direct investment of non-residents in Slovenia is made in 5% of Slovene companies. At the end of the previous year, the companies with foreign direct investment held 18.5% of capital and 12.6% of staff in the entire corporate sector. In value in the total exports and imports of goods, the companies with foreign direct investment account for a third of all the transactions. The largest share of foreign direct investment in Slovenia is made by Member States of the European Union and Switzerland, whereas Slovene investors mostly decide for investment in the countries of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the end of 2003, the share of Investor States from the European Union amounted to 68.5% of the value of all foreign direct investment in Slovenia. Because of larger investment in chemicals and chemical products in 2002 and a change in ownership of the mentioned investment in 2003, Switzerland held direct investment in an amount of 1,106.1 million EUR, and thus became the second one among the most important investor countries (second to Austria) with a 21.8% share of all foreign direct investment in Slovenia. During all the years captured by reporting, Austria remained the most important Investor State with almost a quarter of all foreign investment (1,175.5 million EUR). With 395.6 million EUR or a 7.8% share, Germany ranks third, followed by France with a 7.5% share. At the end of 2003, the composition of all foreign investment in Slovenia broken down by business activity occurred as follows: 25.8 % in intermediation and wholesale trade, exclusive of vehicles, followed by financial intermediation (15.4%) and other business activities (10.2%). Additionally, viewed from the perspective of statistical regions, it prevailed in the Central Region of Slovenia (61.2%) at the end of the previous year.

    Direct investment of Slovene companies abroad amounted to 1,848.9 million EUR at the end of 2003, thereof a percentage of 45.6 was made in the newly founded (greenfield) companies in the total quantity of investment, representing 33.5% of the value of the equity capital invested abroad. At the end of the previous year, Slovene companies made most of their direct investment abroad in Croatia (609.8 million EUR); however, despite the growing value of direct investment made in Croatia, its share in the total direct investment of Slovene companies abroad has been decreasing, amounting to 33% in 2003. Having a 11.2 per cent share, Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks second among the most important host countries, followed by Serbia and Montenegro. But among Member States, however, the majority of Slovene direct investment is made in the Netherlands. At the end of the previous year, direct investment of Slovene companies abroad broken down by business activity amounted to 58.2% in manufacturing, 18.3% in the production of chemicals and chemical products, 6.8% in that of engines and appliances and 6.1% in that of food and drink (6.1%). The data show that, for the last 3 years, Slovene direct investment abroad has been changing from notably production-oriented direct investment to the service-oriented one, as well.