Romania grew seven places to 24th worldwide in the latest World Investments Report (WIR), published by the UN Conference for Trade and Development-UNCTAD on Monday. The report says the total amount of foreign direct investments globally grew 29% to 916 billion USD last year with the United Kingdom, the US and China taking the three most luring spots in the world.

The report measures the performance index of FDI. It shows FDI in SE Europe and CIS countries maintained the pace of growth in 2005, reaching a total of 40 billion USD.

Romania, the Russian Federation and Ukraine have claimed some three quarters of the whole amount of foreign capital invested in the region last year. The FDI level grew above five billion USD in Ukraine and Romania (6.4 billion USD) and above 10 billion in Russia.

UNCTAD experts say the high level of FDI lured by Romania is due to the privatization of the Romanian Commercial Bank - BCR and natural gas distribution companies. The introduction of a flat tax of 16% is seen as a contributing factor to the positive results.

And the study shows that Romanian authorities have announced a simplified process for real estate acquisitions by EU residents once the country joins the Union next year, while keeping restrictions for forest and agricultural land procurement.

The study says the EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria will have a positive impact on investments within the European Union.

The number of Greenfield investments Romania attracted last year reached 235 projects, compared to 171 projects in 2004. According to the document, the FDI stock in Romania exceeded 23.81 billion USD last year.