Romania: In 2004, Romania attracted almost 50% of the foreign direct investment (FDI) registered by the countries of south-eastern Europe, according to studies by the Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA). “In 2004, the volume of FDI in the countries of south-east Europe exceeded the 8 billion EUR mark (…). This equates to around 5% of the GDP of the region”, said Marianne Kager, BA-CA's chief economist. According to experts, the increase in FDI was generated mainly by the privatisation of PETROM and public service bodies such as ELECTRICA DOBROGEA and ELECTRICA BANAT. Bulgaria comes second with around 25% of total investments in this part of Europe, thanks to the privatisation of seven regional electricity companies and the national telecommunications company. Ukraine: the government expects to see an increase in FDI of 1.7 billion dollars in 2005, to reach a total between 10 and 10.5 billion. Brazil: foreign companies invested 1.19 billion dollars in 2004 in the Brazilian gas and energy sectors, according to the Brazilian think-tank Sobeet, a specialist in international affairs. More generally, FDIs rose in Brazil by around 83% last year.