In January-September of this year, the economy of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has received 336.5 million USD of foreign direct investment (FDI), which is in 5.1 times higher than in 2010. This was reported by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the ARC Svetlana Verba at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the autonomy on November 22.

 

 

   "For the first 9 months of 2011, there has been a record inflow of foreign direct investment", - noted the Minister.

  

   The total amount of FDI at the beginning of October was 1.15 billion USD, the growth rate compared with the beginning of the year - 41.3%, which is the best indicator in Ukraine. Compared with the beginning of 2011, FDI per capita grew 1.4 times, reaching 589.1 USD in Crimea.

 

 

   "The main contributors to the investment activity is a business deregulation, an active image policy, a work of the regional authorities on attracting investment, the development of the investment map of the republic as an open and accessible online source of socio-economic information for investors", - the Minister underlined.

  

   However, Svetlana Verba noted that despite the positive dynamics of attracting investments into the economy of Crimea, their volume is not enough for the development of the autonomy. The main barriers to the investment activity development is insufficient elaboration of investment proposals, taking into account the interests of territorial communities and investors, as well as lack of incentives for domestic and foreign investment at the regional level.

  

   As the Minister emphasized, one of the ways to overcome difficulties in attracting investment will be adoption of amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine "On the basis of development of the ARC and the features of the investment activity in its territory", as well as strengthening the Council of domestic and foreign investors under the Council of Ministers of Crimea.

  

   Additional investment funds may also arrive due to involving national and Crimean partners in republican investment projects.

 

   In addition, in the opinion of the Minister, it is necessary to transfer the activity of the Agency for Regional Development of the ARC to a new level, aiming it not only to conceptuality, but also on performance.