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Lithuania achieves all-time record in attracting FDI

Xinhua, January 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuania attracted a record number of foreign investment projects, foreign capital investments, and jobs from foreign investors, data published by Invest Lithuania, the country's investment promotions agency, showed on Wednesday.

According to the agency, a total of 31 new investment projects came in in 2015, compared to 26 in 2014. The number of jobs created grew by 50 percent to 2,647. Meanwhile, foreign capital investment jumped fivefold to 144 million euros (157 million U.S. dollars), compared to 30 million euros in 2014, according to Invest Lithuania.

"2015's results are the best in the history of the agency and of Lithuania," Mantas Katinas, head of the agency said in a press release.

The agency named the arrival of Nasdaq, Uber and AIG as the main contributors to the record-breaking result. Invest Lithuania plans to attract 15 percent more foreign direct investment in 2016.

According to the agency, the country's focus on creating a favorable business environment and active targeting of investors led to the increase in foreign investment.

"Analysis suggests that Lithuania stands out in the region with its strong services centers, games industry, and information technology clusters," said Katinas.

In the coming years, Danish capital companies are to create the majority of jobs, or 794 jobs in Lithuania, followed by the United States and France.

According to the Bank of Lithuania, the total stock of foreign direct investment in Lithuania amounted to 13.2 billion euros at the end of the third quarter and grew by 2.4 percent during the first nine months of the year. The biggest foreign direct investor in Lithuania remains Sweden with its business' investments amounting to 24.3 percent of Lithuania's received foreign direct investment. Sweden is followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Endit