Chamber: German business to invest billions of euros in Russia

MOSCOW, Jun 23 (PRIME) -- Almost half of German companies that work in Russia plan to invest several billions of euros in the next 12 months, according to a poll published by the Russian–German Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

The chamber polled 1,000 member companies in May–June, and results turned out to be the most positive over the past several years.

“Almost half of the polled companies, or 47%, said they planned to invest in Russia next year. The amount of investment planned by the participants of the poll in the next 12 months stands at 840 million euros. Taking into account that a total of 3,971 German companies work in Russia, the combined planned investment may reach several billions of euros,” the report read.

The bulk of the polled companies expect improvement in Russia’s economy in July–December, with 54% expecting a slight increase and 14% expecting a noticeable increase, while 21% expected stagnation, and 12% thought that the economy would get worse.

A similar 2020 poll showed that only 30% of the polled companies were ready to invest in Russia in the next 12 months.

The majority of German companies that work in Russia, or 92%, support cancellation of anti-Russian sanctions, 5% supported prolongation of sanctions, and only 3% favored toughening of the sanctions.

Half of the polled companies thought that the business climate has improved in Russia since the beginning of 2021, while 27% did not see any changes and 22% thought that the business climate worsened.

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