Foreign investors roll 12 projects in Q1 in Romania worth EUR 719m, set up more than 3,000 jobs

Most of the projects are Greenfield investments and some are in the equipment making industry and in renewable energies.

ARIS said, using data from the trade registry body, that 1,301 new companies were registered in the first two months this year.

The country's central bank (BNR) said foreign direct investments in the first two months hiked 38 percent over the similar period last year, to 1.374 billion euros.FDI stood during the first two months of last year at 995 million euros, covering only 39.7 percent of the current account deficit at the moment.

Of all the investments recorded between January 1 and February 28, capital participations weighed 45.2 percent, the reinvested profit - 16.4 percent and the intra-group credits - 38.4 percent.

The loans contracted by companies headquartered in Romania from their mother-companies might widen the current account deficit as they will be returned when they mature. Their weight dropped however during the analyzed period from where they stood last year, at 50.8 percent.

Last year's current account deficit was covered in proportion of 53.5 percent by FDI, which amounted to 9.02 billion euros, 24.45 percent up from 2007.

Romania's balance of payments gap decreased by 75.5 percent during the first two months of the year, to 614 million euros, as the commercial deficit shrank significantly.