IMPACT OF THE FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FROM THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR ON THE ROMANIAN IMPORTS OF INTERMEDIATE GOODS AND OF RAW MATERIALS

Increasing exports by stimulating the foreign direct investment could be a solution to the problem of the persistent trade balance deficit of Romania. However, in such an attempt there have to be taken into consideration the potential effects of the foreign direct investment on some categories of imports. This paper explores the dynamic relation between the foreign direct investment from the manufacturing sector and the Romanian imports of intermediate goods and raw materials. We found causality linkages between the foreign direct investment and the imports of intermediate goods, meaning that Romanian branches of the multinational companies prefer to import such goods instead of producing or buying from the domestic markets. Instead, we failed to identify any causality between the foreign direct investment and the imports of raw materials.