Foreign investments reach $6.9 bln in Malopolska
According to Krakow?s daily Dziennik Polski, foreign capital has invested almost $6.9 bln in the Malopolska Region from 1989 to 2005. An estimated 90,000 workplaces have been created as a result.
Three years ago, in 2004, overseas investment in Malopolska reached $65 mln; in 2005 it increased by $4 mln.
However, until now, the record investment year was 1999 when foreign firms brought about $933 mln to the region.
Preliminary data indicates that last year?s invested capital was greater, and may have surpassed $1 bln.
Germany and the U.S., which invested $2.03 bln and $1.84 bln, respectively, over the 17-year period, are the leading foreign investors in the Malopolska Region.
They are followed by France ($652 mln), the UK ($484 mln), Denmark ($264 mln), Croatia ($212 mln) and Israel ($200 mln).
The largest single investors were the HVB Group from Germany ($1.01 bln).
The HVB Group is the second-largest private German financial institution and the second-largest German retail bank, with a strong presence in Bavaria.
The American Philip Morris invested $521 mln in cigarette production.
Pliva, a Croatian pharmaceutical company based in Zagreb, invested $210 mln. Pliva is the largest pharmaceutical company in Eastern Europe.
The UK?s Mittal Steel invested $202 mln in the steel industry and the Danish Carlsberg invested $193 mln in Krakow and Bzesko-Okocim (60 kilometers from the city).
The biggest two overseas investments in 2004-2005 were the purchases and modernization of Krakow?s Department of Steel Factory and the building housing Galeria Krakowska.
Also important was the construction of a German MAN truck factory in Niepolomice (25 kilometers from the city).
Foreign capital was invested most often in industries (48.3 percent), financial mediation (19.1 percent), trade (11.0 percent) and real estate (10.9 percent).
The favorite investment spot in the Maloposka Region was Krakow at 68 percent, followed by the Brzesko District, at 5.5 percent. Foreign firms employ 87,300 people in the entire Malopolska Region. This is over 10 percent of the region?s workforce.
With the exception of agriculture, every fifth inhabitant in Krakow and the Brzesko District is employed by a foreign company.