Foreign direct investment in Russia soars 63.2% to $6.3 bln in Q1 – Rosstat

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 24, 2013) Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Russia grew 63.2% year-on-year in Q1 2013 to $6.304 billion, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Overall foreign investment grew 65.4% to $60.436 billion.

The FDI included $1.148 billion in equity investment, down 38%; $4.726 billion in loans from the foreign co-owners of companies, up 180%; $1 million in leasing, down 82.2%; and $429 million in other direct investment, up 35.9%.

Rosstat said foreign portfolio investment fell 88.2% to $119 million (grew 8.2-fold in Q1 2012), of which $65 million in shares, down 93.5%, and $54 million in securities, up 230%.

Other foreign investment grew 70.6% to $54.013 billion after falling 21.5% in Q1 2012. This included $7.05 billion in trade credits, up 19.6%, and $46.77 billion in other credits, up 100%, of which $5.284 billion repayable in up to 180 days, down 69.5%, and $41.486 billion in more than 180 days, up 7.2-fold.

Rosstat said $24.3 billion of previous foreign investment was repaid, 32.4% less than in Q1 2012.

Cumulative foreign investment as of April 1, 2013 was $364.9 billion, or 12.9% more than a year previously. Portfolio investment accounted for 1.9% of this (3.3% a year previously), FDI for 31.9% (38.5%) and returnable investment for 66.2% (58.2%).

The bulk of the foreign investment in Q1 2013 went into the manufacturing sector ($41.896 billion, mainly coke and petroleum products with $34.482 billion), of which $8.146 billion from France, $6.82 billion from the United States, $5.516 billion from Britain and $4.657 billion from the Netherlands. Wholesale and retail trade received $8.25 billion, including $3.642 billion from Luxembourg and $2.642 billion from Cyprus. The financial industry received $5.607 billion, of which $4.419 billion from Switzerland.

The bulk of the investment in Russia in Q1 2013 came from France ($8.302 billion), the United States ($6.907 billion) and the Netherlands ($6.805 billion).

Cumulative investment by Russia abroad was $175.3 billion as of April 1, 2013. Russian investment abroad grew 2.9-fold in Q1 2013 compared with the same period of last year to $92.3 billion.

A total of $37.9 billion in Russian investment abroad was repaid in Q1 2013, 24.9% more than in the same period of last year.

The British Virgin Islands and Switzerland had the most Russian investment as of April 1, 2013 with $57.021 billion and $12.268 billion, respectively.