Business news

Foreign investment in FEZ Minsk exceeds $118m in H1 2020

MINSK, 9 September (BelTA) – In H1 2020 Free Economic Zone Minsk received over $118 million in foreign investment, with FDI making 85% of the total, head of FEZ Administration Dmitry Rudchenko said in an interview to the SB. Belarus Segodnya newspaper, BelTA has learned.

According to him, in January-June 2020 net FDI reached almost $70 million, up 76% year on year. Key investors were Switzerland, Cyprus and China. Capital investment totaled $50.8 million, up 31% compared to H1 2019.

In January-June 2020 the export of goods made up $559 million. The head of the FEZ administration said that the export significantly increased to the non-CIS countries, reaching $185.5 million, up 27.5% year on year.

According to Dmitry Rudchenko, resident companies export a wide range of products. The main exports include electronic components, medical equipment, cable products, steelwork, motor and electric transport, rail and tram cars, component parts and equipment for vehicles, electric equipment for passenger cars.

“The foreign trade surplus amounted to $83.6 million. In H1 2020, resident companies of FEZ Minsk paid Br186.3 million of taxes, duties and fees to the budget and non-budgetary funds. This is 17% up from H1 2019. In the first six months of the year resident companies employed 482 specialists. Today the average number of employees in FEZ Minsk is 24,425 people,” said the head of the FEZ.

Some 118 resident companies have been registered in FEZ Minsk, 69 of them are companies with foreign investment. The main investor countries are Russia, the UK, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and China. Last year, 17 new organizations joined FEZ Minsk. This year, 11 new companies have come to the free economic zone to launch significant investment projects, such as the production of control valves for the petrochemical industry, innovative high-tech equipment and air filtration systems, assembling of structures and goods from ferrous and non-ferrous metals, production of special paint materials for road surface marking, and also paper wrapper.

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