The United States is among the top three investors in Russia's new projects for the past year, Chief Executive Officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"The United States has become the third largest investor in Russia's new projects last year after China and Germany," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Russia Alexis Rodzianko said earlier that American companies have not reduced their presence in Russia last year and have not abandoned the market. He explained that the companies rather support the current level of presence, with some even investing in business expansion.
The advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the third place of the U.S. still doesn't mean close economic contacts. "The U.S. investments are small and do not have a significant impact on the Russian economy. Therefore, on the one hand, it’s good that American business continues to invest in Russia, but on the other hand, no far-reaching conclusions can be drawn from this," he said.
"As a rule, those American companies cooperating with Russia take care not to get on the sanctions list. Therefore, in the future everything will be determined by what is prohibited. For the time being, it is important to note that U.S. sanctions does not cause serious direct damage to Russian companies, and most importantly - they do not affect the export of raw materials," he predicts.
The professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics, Alexander Abramov, in turn, noted that the amount of U.S. investments in Russia has declined last year. "The United States has long been a major investor in Russia. Last year, the U.S. foreign direct investment in Russia declined. At the same time, the United States retains the third position due to the fact that other countries invest even less in Russia," he pointed out.
"I don’t think that we can expect positive changes with foreign investments in the near future. Russia's advantage, even for portfolio investors, is macroeconomic stability and relatively high government securities' yield — but it has much more disadvantages. And until investors understand that the foreign policy situation is under control, we cannot expect any breakthrough projects," Alexander Abramov concluded.
