Foreign direct investments in Georgia declined 16% year-to-year in 2010 to USD 553.1 million, according to preliminary figure released by the state statistics office, Geostat, on March 11.

In the fourth quarter of 2010 FDI was USD 120 million, which is 38% decline over the same period of 2009.

The Netherlands was the largest investor in 2010 with USD 143.2 million, followed by the United States with USD 108.4 million; Russia – USD 51.3 million; Azerbaijan – USD 46.6 million; United Arab Emirates – USD 39.9 million and Turkey – USD 37.5 million.

Transport and communication sector attracted the biggest share of FDI in 2010 with USD 193.9 million (35%); industrial sector – USD 90.8 million (16%); financial sector USD 89.5 million (16%%), real estate – USD 84.4 million (15%); energy sector – USD 20.9 million (3.8%) and agriculture – USD 10.6 million (1.9%), according to the preliminary figures.

Flow of FDI into Georgia picked in 2007 reaching USD 2.01 billion, reducing to USD 1.5 billion in 2008 and to USD 658.4 million in 2009, according to official figures.