
Received 26.11.2021.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the analysis of the investment ties of the Visegrad Group countries over the last three decades with the emphasis on the period of their EU membership. Transformation and subsequent integration into the EU predetermined certain imbalances in investment sectors of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, some of which still remain. The Visegrad countries continue to be strong importers of capital, but Hungary and the Czech Republic were able to equalize several imbalances, which is manifested in increased export opportunities. The importance of FDI for the Visegrad economies is only increasing, which exacerbates the problem of external dependence and associated risks. The territorial diversification of investment ties is among positive trends, but dependence on several economies of the European market is preserved. A quantitative analysis of sectoral imbalances has shown that the Czech Republic and Hungary have the least diversified outward FDI, Hungary – inward FDI. Slovakia has the most diversified FDI sectoral structure. The analysis of several types of investments indicates a certain exhaustion of the potential of the Visegrad market. Large companies and their projects and deals continue to play a significant role in investment ties of the V4. At the same time, Visegrad companies are not inferior to foreign ones in terms of volume of investments, which is often associated with their sectors of specialization – raw materials. The branch network of Visegrad companies is small compared to the foreign one, which plays a significant role in the V4 labor markets and produces a significant share of production. Investment ties of the Visegrad countries have common features, while maintaining the characteristics of each of them.
Keywords: Visegrad countries, FDI, external dependence, sectoral and territorial disproportions, types of investment, COVID 19 pandemic
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