Bulgaria's 2011 FDI to Reach EUR 1.6 B - Agency Chief

Bulgaria's final foreign direct investment for 2011 will probably amount to EUR 1.6 B, according to Borislav Stefanov, head of the InvestBulgaria Agency.

"Foreign direct investment for 2011 has already surpassed EUR 1 B. I suppose that 2011 will be similar to 2010 in that regard, i.e. Bulgaria's final FDI figure will be about EUR 1.6 B," Stefanov told BNR.

The Director of the InvestBulgaria Agency explained that there is a discrepancy in the figures about Chinese investments in Bulgaria that are provided by the Bulgarian National Bank and the Chinese sources.

"According to the data of the InvestBulgaria Agency, the Chinese investments in Bulgaria are a little under EUR 60 M for the period between 1996 and 2011. According to Chinese data, this sum is over EUR 600 M. The discrepancy can be explained with the fact that BNB's data is based on the transactions between Bulgarian firms with foreign shares and their parent companies," he said.

Stefanov also commented on the upcoming visit of Qatar's Prime Minister in Bulgaria, saying that Bulgaria has a number of projects for which it can seek Qatari investments.