Germany's direct investments in Russia exceed 3 billion euros
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce is confident that companies that have knowledge of the Russian market are not afraid of "sanctions and political problems.
On Monday, April 15, the press service of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, citing data from the German Federal Bank, announced that Germany’s direct investments in the Russian economy in 2018 amounted to 3.2 billion euros.
They estimate that this is a record amount of investment since the financial crisis in 2008. Large-scale projects such as the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea also played a role. The total investment in this project is estimated at nine billion euros. Wintershall and Uniper are two German companies taking part in financing the project. They have allocated 950 million euros for this purpose.
The volume of Russian-German trade in 2018 also increased by 8.4 percent and amounted to 61.9 billion euros.
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce reminded that so far the largest investment was in 2007 (7.4 billion euros). The reason for the sharp increase was the German energy concern E.On (now Uniper) deal, bringing 4.6 billion euros investment in the Russian energy market.
At the same time, the estimate of net direct investment in 2017 was adjusted from 1.6 billion to 2.8 billion euros.
"Companies that are well aware of the Russian market are not in a hurry to be intimidated by sanctions and political problems," said the chairman Matthias Schepp.
The number of companies in the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce has also significantly increased (by 10%) over the past two years. Currently, there are about 900 listed companies.