Austrian investors lead the rankings with EUR 3.5bn-worth of investments. They are followed by Swiss (EUR 1.3bn) and German (EUR 1.1bn) investors.

Between 1994 and 2015, the total value of foreign investment grew by 12.4% annually on average, the central bank Banka Slovenije said in a report published on Monday.

Last year, most of the EUR 1.4bn in fresh foreign capital in Slovenia ended in finance and insurance, and in real estate.

Companies in foreign ownership last year reported a record EUR 936.8m in profit, which follows two years of losses. In 2014, the cumulative loss stood at EUR 74m.

They paid out EUR 478m in profit. While this is 18.7% less than in 2014, it is almost 4% above the six-year average.

Considering only direct foreign ownership, Slovenia was home to 3,581 foreign investments at the end of 2015, with existing companies leading the way (65.6%), followed by new companies (32.2%).

EU countries lead among the investors, having more than four fifths of FDI stock in 2015, with Austria alone boasting 30.7% of FDI ownership in Slovenia. Switzerland and Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia round off the top five.

However, Banka Slovenije noted that the complicated structure of multinationals can cover up the initial source of FDI. For instance, a significant part of Germany's investments in Slovenia are owned through Austrian subsidiaries of German companies.

Taking this in consideration, the report cites Germans, Italians, Russians, Americans and Croatians as the biggest investors in Slovenia.

While companies with FDI represented only 4.5% of all Slovenian companies at the end of 2015, they are very important for the Slovenian economy, having recorded a 10.8% in return on capital, which is twice the Slovenian average.

What is more, employees in these companies received 12.1% higher-higher-than-average pay.