Bulgaria experienced a significant surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first half of this year, as reported by the central bank. The net inflow of FDI reached approximately 1.796 billion euros ($1.96 billion) from January to June, marking an impressive 96.1% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) released a monthly report stating that the net FDI inflow for the first half of 2023, following the directional principle, accounted for about 1.9% of the country’s projected gross domestic product (GDP) for the year. This figure highlights a substantial rise from the 1.1% of the 2022 GDP that the net FDI inflow represented during the same months of the previous year.
In terms of specific months, June saw a noteworthy FDI inflow of 242.9 million euros, a notable contrast to the outflow of 6.6 million euros observed in June 2022.
Breaking down the sources of FDI, the Netherlands emerged as the leading contributor in the first half of 2023, with a substantial net inflow of 508.9 million euros. Austria followed with 231.5 million euros, and Belgium with 203 million euros. Conversely, Italy experienced the largest net outflow of FDI, amounting to 73.7 million euros, while Romania saw a net outflow of 44.4 million euros during the same period.
