If foreign direct investments were to show only what is an investment in the economic sense, then the figures that are communicated would be significantly smaller and would show the unenviable state of affairs in attracting foreign investments, said the director of the Action for Social Justice (ASP) Ines Mrdović.
She commented on the data of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), which show that the largest foreign investors in Montenegro in the first five months of this year are Russian citizens with EUR 52 million and investors from Serbia with EUR 48 million. The Swiss follow with 39 million EUR, citizens of Turkey 32 million, Germany 28 million, Cyprus 24 million…
Mrdović said that what has been presented as foreign direct investment in this country for years is only the tip of the iceberg.
– There has long been a need to change the methodology/criteria for determining foreign direct investments, and first of all, we should start from what is a real investment in the economic sense. This is how we have the presentation of foreign direct investments in the hundreds of millions of euros at annual levels, which creates the impression that the investments are huge, but most of it is not a real economic investment, it is not a business opened in this country, which generates employment and business activity – said Mrdović.
She said that we see a large share in real estate, but those types of real estate investments are mostly individual.
– The market for buying apartments, flats, individual hotel units in Montenegro is attractive for foreigners. However, this means that they invested in their own living comforts (say, buy an apartment on the coast and then spend your annual vacations in Montenegro) or life needs (say, buy an apartment to live in it). The benefit for the state is reflected in the real estate tax and other taxes through the consumption of foreigners, but the purchase of an apartment or apartment is not a business activity, it is not a business that should be further developed (in most cases) – announced Mrdović.
– Since independence, the practice has been developed that foreign companies provide subsidiary companies with loans to develop business activities, and they later return those loans to them as debts. Therefore, mutual debts are included in foreign direct investments, but there is no control as to how much is real investment, i.e. how much was invested in Montenegro and led to an increase in economic value, and how much of it is fictitious, i.e. serves to circumvent the tax regulations of this country country and enables the withdrawal of money earned in Montenegro to parent companies abroad – said Mrdović.
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