According to the EY Baltics’ attractiveness report, last year the turbulence and uncertainty halted by COVID-19 caused foreign direct investment in Europe to fall 13%, at the same time Latvia managed to show growth of 79% compared to the year before. In addition, 69% of investors plan to establish or expand operations in 2021 in Latvia. 

In the Baltics, a total of 62% of investors believe that future growth in attracting investment is linked to the digital economy, namely the IT, telecommunications and media industries, followed by the mobility sector, which is regarded as a future driver by 37% of investors, while another 28% believe that investment will be successfully linked to the large consumption sectors, including food production and agriculture.

In Latvia, the role of the digital economy in attracting investment is highlighted by 49% of investors, the mobility sector – 38%, while the general consumer industry – 36%. In Latvia, the energy sector is also valued slightly higher than elsewhere in the Baltics, which is considered potentially attractive by 15% of investors, while in Estonia and Lithuania it is only 6%.

Guntars Krols, EY Baltics Strategy and Transactions Partner, EY CESA Strategy and Transactions COO, North Cluster Strategy and Transactions Leader: "For Latvia, this is an excellent result at a time when the number of new investment projects in Europe as a whole decreased by 13%. Lithuania is also performing very well, with 53 new investment projects launched last year, which is slightly less than a year earlier (60), but for Estonia last year was not the best year and a 59% drop in new investment projects was registered. Comparing the performance of the Baltic States, it is interesting to note that the specialization of the countries is emerging, namely, Latvia has a lot of new investments in manufacturing - 20 new projects, while Lithuania has more investment in research and development (19 projects)."

EY's report also reveals that 56% of foreign investors will pay more attention to environmental sustainability in their future projects, while 52% will focus on reducing CO2 emissions and 47% on cleaner energy sources in relation to their investment projects.

The EY Attractiveness Survey Europe is conducted annually, gathering quantitative data on investment projects, monitoring more than 10,000 news sources, and surveying 550 international investment decision-makers and 150 investors with a presence in the Baltics.

Read the EY Baltics’ attractiveness report HERE