BUCHAREST (Romania), October 16 (SeeNews) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Romania fell 19% on the year to an estimated 2.518 billion euro ($2.978 billion) in the first eight months of 2017, the central bank, BNR, said on Monday.

Revised BNR figures show that FDI reached 3.092 billion euro during the prior-year period.

During the first eight months of 2017, equity investment amounted to 2.804 billion euro and inter-company lending recorded a net negative value of 286 million euro, the BNR said in a statement, citing provisional data.

FDI into Romania increased 18% last year, reaching 4.08 billion euro - its highest value since 2008, when it totalled 9.5 billion euro. In 2009, FDI slumped to 3.49 billion euro due to the global economic crisis.

($= 0.8481 euro)