FDI in Russian regions low due to lack of local authority support, agency claims

Sverdlovsk

FDI in Russian regions: 95% of Russian regions are unattractive to foreign investors, a study released last week in Moscow found, in a sign that investment is likely to remain sluggish even after Russia emerges from the current recession. “Investment has already fallen in 70% of regions,” Dmitry Kabalinsky, head of the corporate ratings department at Expert RA, told the Regions of Russia: perspectives of development and new opportunities. The key reason for the poor investment climate was a lack of support from local authorities, the agency said. 
According to a regional investment climate rating conducted last year by the government-sponsored Agency for Strategic Initiatives, a government-sponsored organization meant to provide support for Russian and foreign investors, the most successful regions at luring investors and implementing investment projects over the past five years have been the Kaluga and Lipetsk regions in central Russia, the republic of Tatarstan, the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals and the Kostroma region to the north of Moscow.