OREANDA-NEWS.March 19, 2012. The number of foreign companies operating in Moldova increased by 11.4 per in 2011, reaching 615 enterprises, according to data put out by the State Registration Chamber.

It is for the third year in a row that the number of foreign-capital companies is on the rise in Moldova. Yet, the pre-crisis figure, of 785 foreign enterprises, has not been reached so far. Foreign investments in enterprises registered capital are also on the rise. According to the State Registration Chamber, about 311 million lei was invested in 2011 in the newly-created or re-organized companies, against 173 million lei the year before. The historical maximum of foreign investments (over 1 billion lei) was reached in 1999.

The data of the State Registration Chamber show that the majority of joint ventures were founded with Romanian capital (1,256 enterprises) and Turkish capital (918 companies). Among other leading investors are Italy with 897 companies, Russia with 812 companies and Ukraine, with 669 enterprises.

The Netherlands lead the top in terms of investments' values, with 1.685.1 billion lei, being followed by Russia with about 944.4 million lei, Germany with 545.7 million lei and Great Britain with 475.5 million lei.