German companies invest more in Russia

Author: Marcus Schilling
Date: 17.04.2019

Investments have not been so high since the financial crisis

Last year, German companies invested as much money in Russia as they have in a long time. According to the German-Russian chamber of commerce, investments have not been as high since the financial crisis.

The Bundesbank announced that the sum of German net direct investments in 2018 had amounted to 3.26 billion euros. This exceeds the previous forecast by more than one billion euros.

“In addition to major projects such as Nord Stream 2, small and medium-sized German companies and family businesses in particular are recognizing the opportunities offered by the large Russian market,” commented Moscow chamber of commerce CEO Matthias Schepp, referring to the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline. Western sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict could not change this.

Furthermore, the renewed growing interest in Russia can be seen in the increasing number of members of the chamber of commerce and industry by ten percent to almost 900. At the beginning of april, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier jointly opened a Mercedes-Benz plant near Moscow. In 2018, German-Russian trade also increased by 8.4 percent to 61.9 billion euros.