BiH is doing business with numerous foreign companies, which are earning around 2.4 billion BAM per year and they are mainly engaged in the processing of industry and trade. The latest data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH showed that there were 407 foreign companies in BiH in 2015, 388 in 2014 and 2013 and 372 in the year of 2012.
These are companies with 20 or more employees who are majority-owned by foreigners. They are employing around 60,040 workers in total, which makes about 20 % of the total number of employed people in BiH. This practically means that almost one-fifth of the workforce in BiH has found employment in these companies. When it comes to the manufacturing industry, there are 188 companies that are employing 33,900 people, and in wholesale and retail trade 114 representations with 15,584 employees. The largest number of branches are coming from the EU – 317 of them, and Croatia is in the first place with 60, then Slovenia with 55, and Austria with 50 representative offices.
Countries outside the EU have a total of 90 representative offices, and at the first place in this category is Serbia with 37 representative offices. Statistics show that foreign companies in BiH achieved a turnover of 11.96 billion BAM during the previous year, while 1.1 billion BAM was used for costs of the staff.
From the Foreign Investors Council of BiH was stated that foreign companies are promoting the basic economic goals of a country, which include stability, development, and exchange of knowledge, as well as the adoption of new technologies.
Direct foreign investments, above all, encourage trade, development and economic growth of the countries in transition through companies that not only bring capital by entering the market but also other resources that are encouraging domestic businessmen as well,” said the Director Executive of the Foreign Investors Council of BiH, Sanja Miovcic. According to her, the space for the development of small and medium-sized companies is created with large international corporations entering the market.
“That leads to higher growth rate, increased exports, and faster implementation of structural reforms. At the end, it ensures better economic stability and more favorable credit rating of the country. However, it is important that the investor is accompanied by corresponding infrastructure and logistics, as well as effective administration apparatus that will service the investor, and not to represent a barrier to the realization of the investment,” said Miovcic.
(Source: akta.ba)
