Foreign direct investment (FDI) in 23 nations of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe fell sharply in 2013 and even fell "alarmingly" in Slovakia and Poland, an Austrian economic institute stated Thursday.
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) said in its latest FDI analysis that the region was hit by deleveraging, and that the 11 newest EU member nations saw their FDI drop by an average of almost two-thirds.
Of these countries only Romania and Bulgaria saw FDI increases, of 27.4 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. WIIW economist Gabor Hunya said he was optimistic for the future of only "about seven or eight" of these countries, Austria Press Agency reported.
The five largest CIS states including Russia and Ukraine saw considerable FDI increases of over 25 percent, while Western Balkans countries saw a more moderate FDI increase of 2 percent.
The WIIW economists said they expect Russian FDI to almost halve to 41 billion U.S. dollars, but added the country is a "special case" to due fluctuations in FDI inflows and outflows from Russian companies based abroad.
In other regions, the WIIW expects Southern Europe's FDI to remain relatively unchanged, and forecasts "moderate optimism" for Turkey due to ongoing political uncertainties.