Abstract. Foreign direct investments (FDI) are a force that shapes the world economy. Stocks and flows of FDI (inward and outward) are indicators followed with great attention by national and international entities and they are correlated with other macroeconomic indicators to detect trends at regional, national and international levels and to determine the degree of development of a country. The dramatically changes that occurred in world economy in the last 30 years have generated major changes on the motivations of foreign investors, the emergence of new types of economic agents that generate foreign direct investments and new international regulations regarding FDI. In this article, the authors analyzed the relations between FDI, import, export and GDP for Romania economy for the period 1990-2014. The research methodology applied is based on the Augmented Dickey-Fuller statistic test and the Granger causality test, the datasets for the variables included in the study have been drawn from official data sources, the UNCTAD database and the National Statistics Institute of Romania’s database (TEMPO). To present their results, the authors have used graphical and table-based instruments, which provides better understanding of the research outputs. Also, the study is placed within the context and historical landmarks of the Romanian economy, the results and conclusions emphasize the effects of certain actions and events on the indicators and correlations analyzed.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, transnational corporations; import, export and GDP.