According to estimates of the Russian central bank in the first 3 quarters of last year, abroad investors withdrew 44 billion dollars (about 178 billion PLN) of direct investments from Russia, and their full value decreased to 235 billion dollars (about 950 billion PLN).
In 2023 Russia lost 80 billion dollars (about PLN 324 billion) in abroad direct investments, and in 2022 it lost 138 billion dollars (about PLN 558 billion). In total, in 3 years their value in the economy decreased by more than half, or 262 billion dollars. (about PLN 1.1 trillion) — before Russia's invasion of Ukraine was $500 billion (about PLN 2 trillion).
Although Vladimir Putin declared “maximum openness” to investors from BRICS countries and called on them to invest capital in Russia, the Russian central bank did not evidence any inflow of money from their parties. “This indicates the increasing isolation of the Russian economy,” says Janis Kluge, a investigator at the German Institute of global Security.
For example, the Chinese authorities — Russia’s largest trading partner, with whom Putin has a ‘strategic’ relation — banned local companies from investing in the Russian oil and gas sectors. They besides refused to invest in Siberia Power task 2 and instructed automotive companies not to build factories in Russia.
Moreover, Chinese banks frequently refuse to accept Russian payments, even if they are made in their currency. Last year, in the field of cross-border payments, there was a discrimination between "clean" and "dirty" yuan — i.e. yuan bought abroad and purchased in Russia. This second Chinese financial institution does not want to accept.
"Unfriendly" entrepreneurs
Before the war, 3 quarters of abroad direct investment in Russia came from “unfriendly” countries — they suspended them after imposing Western sanctions on Moscow. In mining and production, sectors that account for 50% of Russian GDP and 40% of employment, “unfriendly” investors invested an amount of 20% of all their assets. Even more were active in trade (80 per cent of fixed assets), finance (near 70%), as well as in the technological and technological industries (40 per cent), calculated Loko-Invest analysts.
At the same time, China accounted for just 3.3 billion dollars (PLN 13.4 billion) of direct investments in Russia, i.e. 0.66% of the full amount, and India accounted for only $613 million (PLN 2.5 billion), or 0.012 percent. Investments from Brazil and South Africa were so negligible that they were not included in the statistic of the Russian central bank.
Other assets of western investors in Russia are threatened with confiscation. The government is preparing to submit to the State Duma a bill that would introduce a private property confiscation mechanics in consequence to freezing of reserves of the Russian central bank through Western countries. The paper assumes that the confiscation practice will be extended to all countries that imposed sanctions on Russia,” reported the Reuter Agency sources acquainted with the bill.
