
By the end of 2023, the stock of foreign direct investment from European Union countries in Albania reached almost 6 billion euros. This figure includes the total investments made over the years by various EU countries.
The data was published in the Eurostat database. In 2023 alone, foreign investments from EU countries in Albania were 457 million euros.
"Monitor" has compared the stock of foreign investment from the EU in the countries of the region, in relation to the size of the respective economy (gross domestic product-GDP) to see which country has managed to attract the most investment in the transition period.
The highest level of foreign investment was in North Macedonia, whose stock amounted to 29.3% of GDP at the end of 2023.
North Macedonia has often won the foreign investment race with Albania in recent years, offering a simpler fiscal system, free economic zones, tax breaks, and even advertising sea access from the Port of Durres. Many companies that tried to enter Albania in recent years, such as the American company Johnson Control in the production of automotive parts, have opened several factories in Macedonia.
Not only foreign investments, but also many Albanian entrepreneurs were attracted by Macedonia's policies to attract foreign investments.
Serbia is the second country that has managed to attract the most foreign investments from EU countries, "taking" investors who had shown interest in Albania, such as "Geox" or "Ferrero Rocher".
Montenegro ranks third in the region, with 26.2% of GDP. While Albania, with 26% of GDP, is only behind Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, due to its problems between the two entities, has managed to attract only 1706% of GDP in foreign investment by the end of 2023.
EU investments in the world
According to Eurostat, the net stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) held in non-EU countries by EU resident investors reached €9,160 billion in 2023, reflecting a decrease of 4.1% from 2022 (€9,551 billion).
A similar trend was also evident in the stock of investments held by non-EU residents in the EU, which decreased to €7,446 billion in 2023, a decrease of 5.4% compared to 2022 (€7,874 billion).
In 2023, the EU's net investment position vis-à-vis the rest of the world remained relatively stable, with an increase of 2.2% compared to 2022.
At the end of 2023, the United States absorbed 26.6% (€2,437 billion) of the total stock of FDI held by the EU in the rest of the world, followed by the United Kingdom (€1,765 billion, 19.3%).
Next in line were Switzerland (755 billion euros, 8.2%), Brazil (312 billion euros, 3.4%) and Singapore (263 billion euros, 2.9%). More than 2% of the EU investment stock went to Canada (2.7%), China excluding Hong Kong (2.5%), Russia (2.4%), Bermuda (2.3%), Mexico (2.3%) and the United Arab Emirates (2.0%). / Monitor