Accumulated direct investment in Moscow from China tops $900 mln

MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - Accumulated direct investment in Moscow from China is approaching $1 billion, the city's deputy head of investment and industrial policy, Darya Stepanova said.

"In recent years we're seeing that Chinese businesses are increasing indicators of economic activity in Moscow. For example, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Russia (as of October 1, 2021), the amount of accumulated foreign direct investment in Moscow from China totalled $912 million, which accounted for 70% of the investment growth in the past five years," Stepanova said at a conference on doing business with China and measures to support investors in the current economic environment.

She said the trade turnover between Moscow and China is also growing, increasing by more than a third to almost $65 billion last year.

"If we're talking specifically about the capital's exports, last year we had substantial growth, by 43.5% in monetary terms. That's more than $30 billion," Stepanova said.

Moscow remains the most attractive region for investment in Russia, she said. Capital investment grew by almost 19% to almost 5 trillion rubles in 2021.

"Moscow accounts for about half of the accumulated foreign direct investment in Russia. It reached $256.5 billion as of October 1, 2021. As a rule, foreigners invest money in companies engaged in financial and insurance activities, in the area of trade, in industry and high technology and in real estate," Stepanova said.