Of the 9,063 companies established in Montenegro last year, almost 80 percent were founded by foreigners (mainly citizens of Russia and Turkey) with capital of nearly 30 million euros, according to data provided by the Tax and Customs Administration (Uprava prihoda i carina — UPC).
The number of companies founded by foreigners amounted to 7,070, and in more than half of the cases these were citizens of Russia, who founded 3,831 companies in Montenegro. They are followed by citizens of Turkey, who founded 1,476 companies just last year. Thus, citizens of Russia and Turkey founded more than 5,000 companies, which accounts for 75% of the total number of companies founded by foreigners.
Far behind Russia and Turkey in the list of foreign company founders in Montenegro are citizens of Serbia, who founded 275 companies, followed immediately by citizens of Germany with 247 and Ukraine with 200 companies.
In fifth place are citizens of Belarus with 138 newly established companies, and the next on the list — Italians, Kosovars, Englishmen and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina — opened fewer than 100 companies in Montenegro over the past year.
Main activities of new companies in Montenegro
The UPC said that the activities of newly established companies founded by foreigners are diverse, and most of them, 873, which is about 12 percent of the total, are engaged in wholesale or retail trade.
“About nine percent of them registered for activities in computer programming, and 510 companies were registered as restaurants or other food service businesses. Then come companies engaged in consulting services (473 companies). In the Central Register of Business Entities, between 200 and 300 new companies are registered in the following activities: advertising agencies, hairdressing and beauty salons, real estate rental, IT consulting services, data processing and application services, design activities,” the UPC statement said.
According to data presented by the UPC, 114 companies providing hotel and accommodation services were founded by foreigners last year.
In addition to companies, more than 1,000 new entrepreneurs were also registered
In addition to companies, 1,032 new entrepreneurs were also registered last year, with the structure being the reverse, i.e. 775 local residents and 257 foreigners.
As for the current year, by the end of March 2,778 new companies had been registered, and the trend from the previous year continued, so that 2,016 or 72 percent of the companies were founded by foreign citizens.
“The amount of capital for companies founded by foreigners and registered in 2023 is 2,033,912 euros,” the UPC said.
The structure of foreigners’ departures has not changed significantly compared to last year. In 2023, citizens of Russia founded 1,238 companies, which accounts for 60 percent of the total number of foreign citizens, while one-fifth of the companies were founded by Turks. They are followed by citizens of Serbia, Germany, Ukraine, and Belarus, in significantly smaller numbers.
Citizens of exotic countries are also opening companies in Montenegro
Interestingly, there are companies that were founded by citizens of exotic countries such as Thailand, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, the British Virgin Islands, and Nepal.
During this year, foreigners founded 249 companies engaged in wholesale or retail trade, more than 100 companies were created in the fields of programming and advertising agencies, and 85 were newly founded, which will engage in restaurant and food service activities, i.e. building construction.
2022 is a record year for the volume of foreign direct investment in Montenegro
Last year was a record year for Montenegro in terms of foreign direct investment, which amounted to one billion 151 million euros. In the pre-crisis year of 2019, foreign investment amounted to 778 million euros.
Foreigners invested the most money in real estate purchases in 2022, 448 million euros. Last year was the final year in which the economic citizenship program was in effect, under which foreigners could apply for Montenegrin citizenship by purchasing real estate under certain conditions. That this is the main reason for foreigners’ investment in real estate is evidenced by the fact that in 2019 they bought real estate worth 178 million euros.
Last year, foreigners invested 401 million in so-called intercompany debt, i.e. lent it to their own or other companies in Montenegro. Whereas foreign investment in domestic companies and banks in 2019 amounted to one million euros.
The largest foreign investments in 2022 came from Serbia (137 million euros), followed by Russia (127 million), Germany (100 million), Switzerland (98 million), the United Arab Emirates (89 million), Turkey (78 million), Italy (58 million), the USA (48 million), and Cyprus (45 million).