Bulgaria is also leading the top made by the Austrian Bank. Ukraine and Russia are placed on the following positions in the hierarchy drawn up by OeKB, the bank specialized in the export financing, bank which presented yesterday the first index of the business climate in the Central and Eastern Europe.

"According to the respondents’ estimations and expectations, the economic growth recorded in 2006 in the Central and Eastern Europe not only will be maintained but could be also intensified. The most attractive are Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine, whereas the optimism in Hungary is rather reserved, compared to other states”, it is shown in a press release of OeKB.

The main industrial sectors in which the foreign companies would expand their operations are the mining, power and water supply, banks, insurances and real estate field.
The survey based on the analysis of 314 companies, with more than 1000 subsidiaries in the Eastern Europe shows that 70% of them foresee the improvement of the general economic situation, over the last 12 months, and 64% estimate positive perspectives regarding the business environment.

The direct foreign investment is one of the main factors that supported the economic growth of the 19 countries analyzed, after the dissolution of the communist regime in 1989.