Residents of the FEZ "Vitebsk" in January-April increased the volume of attracted investments by one and a half times to $11.1 million.

May 31, Vitebsk / Sergei Kochetov - BELTA /. Residents of the FEZ "Vitebsk" attracted foreign investments worth about $11.1 million in January-April, which is almost 50% more than in the same period of 2009. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the FEZ administration. In the structure of investments, more than 90% are direct foreign investments, the main share of which (about 90%) was the reinvestment of profits by foreign investors in the development of existing production facilities. Based on the results of the foreign trade activities of the FEZ "Vitebsk" for January-April, a positive balance of more than $2 million was formed. Thus, resident enterprises exported goods worth $39 million, which is 40.7% higher than the data for the same period last year. More than 90% of exports are to CIS countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Moldova. The volume of imports amounted to $36.9 million, with a growth rate of 107.7% compared to the same period last year. In January-April, resident enterprises increased production output at comparable prices by 3.1% compared to the same period last year. A total of over Br200 billion worth of products were produced, with the main share accounted for by machine-building and metalworking products (57.4% of the total output), as well as light industry (27.6%). Revenue from the sale of products (works, services) amounted to Br241.2 billion. In January-April, FEZ residents used Br27.1 billion of investments, of which more than 85% were directed to fixed assets. Taking into account the development of funds from the republican budget for the development of the FEZ "Vitebsk" infrastructure, the total volume of investments in fixed assets in the FEZ amounted to Br23.9 billion. Resident enterprises created an additional 165 jobs. As of May 1, the total number of jobs in the FEZ was over 8.5 thousand. The FEZ "Vitebsk" was established in August 1999. Currently, there are 33 residents operating in the FEZ, of which more than 60% are joint and foreign enterprises. The industrial potential of the FEZ is based on enterprises operating in the fields of machine building, woodworking, food, chemical, fuel, and light industries. The territory of the free economic zone includes seven sectors with a total area of over 1.2 thousand hectares.