Davos 2018: Russia’s economic growth driving foreign investor interest
Foreign direct investment in Russia increased by 25 percent last year. That is a “significant number,” according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) chief, Kirill Dmitriev. He said 2017 was very successful.
“We believe that Russia is growing, is generating additional interest from foreign investors, and they will continue to invest actively in the next year as well,” Dmitriev told RT on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland.
He said that the Russian economy has very strong economic fundamentals such as low inflation, very low debt, very strong macro-economy and still very low valuations.
“We believe the upside from investing in the Russian market and private companies is very significant and Russian companies are focused on attracting foreign investments to stimulate growth and continue growing. So we believe this year is very good for investing in Russia.”
Dmitriev noted significant increase in infrastructure investing, including toll roads, ports, and airports of Russia.
“Technology sector is also generating a lot of interest; we see massive interest from technological investors,” he said.
Dmitriev also cited a recent study by consulting firm McKinsey, which said that the digitalization of the Russian economy can produce more than $100 billion of economic benefit by 2025 and create 10 million highly-qualified jobs.
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The RDIF works with Middle Eastern partners and investors from Asia with China playing a very important role. The fund and its partners made investments in more than 30 different companies last year, Dmitriev said.
Talking about global investment trends, Dmitriev said everyone is very concerned about valuations because they are very high in the stock market in the US and many other exchanges. People are looking for infrastructure and other real assets, trying to find places where there is additional return or yield, given very high valuations overall.
“We believe that emerging markets produce this additional extra benefit and Russia is one of the most attractive markets for this year,” he said.
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