Russian investment in Montenegro at the top: Who's second?

According to new data from the Central Bank on foreign direct investment, the largest foreign investors in Montenegro for the period January-May this year are Russian citizens, who invested 52.5 million euros. They invested the most money in the purchase of real estate - 28.9 million euros, in companies and banks in Montenegro - 12.3 million euros, as well as in inter-company debt - loans to their companies in Montenegro - 13.2 million euros. This confirms that despite the broken diplomatic relations between Montenegro and Russia due to the Ukrainian crisis and the imposition of sanctions against Russia, Russian citizens still come to Montenegro in large numbers and bring their capital for investment.

At the same time, Russian citizens have very little investment outflow from Montenegro compared to other countries. In these five months, Russian citizens have withdrawn 11 million euros from Montenegro, mostly through the sale of real estate worth six million.

After Russians, the second largest investors in Montenegro are citizens and companies from Serbia, who invested 48 million euros, mainly in the purchase of real estate - 26.1 million euros, loans to their companies in Montenegro - 10.5 million euros and investments in companies and banks registered in Montenegro - 8.2 million euros. Investors from Serbia have withdrawn 25.3 million euros from Montenegro, mainly through the sale of real estate worth 12.4 million euros.

In third place are investors from Switzerland, who invested 39 million euros in Montenegro in these five months. They invested the most through loans to their companies amounting to 27.2 million euros, direct investments in companies and banks amounted to 6.6 million euros and in the purchase of real estate 5.1 million euros. Investors from Switzerland have withdrawn 17.7 million euros from Montenegro, of which the largest amount - 10.5 million euros - through the sale of shares in companies and banks registered in Montenegro.

The fourth place in terms of foreign direct investment is occupied by citizens and companies from Turkey with investments of 32.1 million euros. They spent the most on buying real estate - 21.6 million euros, as well as on loans to their companies in Montenegro - nine million euros, while they invested 815 thousand euros in companies and banks.

Turkish citizens and companies withdrew the most money from Montenegro through the sale of shares in companies in the amount of 18 million euros, as well as through the repayment of loans in the amount of 12 million euros.

The fifth place in terms of foreign investment is the country that is a member of the European Union - Germany with 28.3 million euros. Citizens and companies from this country invested the most in the purchase of real estate - 18.5 million euros, 5.6 million euros in local companies and banks, and four million euros in loans to their firms operating in Montenegro. Investors from Germany also had an outflow of 9.7 million euros, of which 7.6 million euros were related to withdrawals from local companies and banks.

After this big five in terms of investments in Montenegro are Cyprus with 24 million euros, the United Arab Emirates with 19.8 million, the United States with 18.9 million and Austria with 13.5 million euros.

In contrast to Russia, which ranks first, in tenth place are investments from Ukraine amounting to 9.4 million euros, of which 8.6 million were invested in the purchase of real estate.

In these six months, investments from 45 countries or territories were registered, and the smallest amount of money was invested from Jordania - 308 thousand euros, Slovakia - 315 thousand, Monaco - 362 thousand euros, Moldova - 365 thousand, Malaysia - 400 thousand, Bulgaria - 408 thousand, etc.

The total amount of foreign investments in these five months amounted to 361 million euros, while last year in the same period they amounted to 428 million euros. That's a decrease of about 16 percent. Taking into account the outflow, net foreign investments amounted to 193 million euros and were 101 million euros lower.

The decrease in investments was affected by the termination of the economic citizenship program at the end of last year, under which foreigners could acquire the right to Montenegrin citizenship with certain investments, including the purchase of real estate. For the whole of last year, net foreign investment amounted to 782 million euros, the second highest amount since independence in 2006. The largest net foreign investment was in 2009 with 1.06 billion euros, mainly due to the sale of Elektroprivreda for 434 million euros.