The volume of attracted foreign investments in the FEZ "Vitebsk" in the first half of the year amounted to $22.8 million.

July 28, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovets - BELTA /. The volume of attracted foreign investments in the FEZ "Vitebsk" for January-June reached $22.8 million and exceeded the annual target by 3.8%. Direct investment investments amounted to almost $11 million (84% of the annual target), the administration of the FEZ informed a BELTA correspondent.

In the first half of the year, investments in fixed assets amounted to over Br33 billion, which is more than 2 times higher than the figure for the same period in 2008. FEZ residents invested over Br31 billion in the construction, reconstruction of production facilities and acquisition of equipment. The greatest activity was shown by IOOO "Gazkhimeksport", IP "Dekora East" and OAO "Vitebskiye Kovry", which account for about 66% of the total volume of investments in fixed assets based on the results of the first half of the year. Almost Br2 billion were used for the development of the infrastructure of the FEZ "Vitebsk", allocated from the republican budget in accordance with the state investment program for 2009.

The volume of production of goods by resident enterprises amounted to about Br280 billion, the profitability of sold products was 15.7%. In the first half of the year, FEZ residents created 144 jobs, which is 2.5 times higher than the annual target. The average monthly salary at resident enterprises is over Br700 thousand, or 112% compared to the same period last year. FEZ residents paid taxes to the budget and extra-budgetary funds in the amount of almost Br31 billion, which is 18.8% more than in January-June 2008.

The FEZ "Vitebsk" was established on August 4, 1999. Currently, 34 residents operate in the FEZ, two of them were registered in 2009. The average number of employees in the enterprises exceeds 8 thousand people. Resident enterprises produce products for the fuel, chemical, light industries, machine-building, have mastered the production of food products and are engaged in scientific research. The territory of the free economic zone includes seven sectors with a total area of more than 1.2 thousand hectares.-0-