To live or to work? That is the question.
Several days ago President Medvedev once again raised the prospect of Moscow becoming an international financial center, speaking at a Central Bank meeting with ministers. He stressed that the main objective is to bring international investors’ attention to the Russian market and make sure they feel as comfortable in Moscow as in London and New York. Living conditions for investors in Russia, rather than professional activities questions, received much more focus during Medvedev’s address. Thus, helping investors and their families with residence documents, accommodation and assistance in solving living issues is getting more and more attention.
According to recent research from Royal Bank of Scotland, however, three key factors are keeping foreign investors from investing in Russia, notably the economy’s dependence on oil and gas prices. This fact, often mentioned by the Russian leadership, is truly entrenched and all modernization efforts can hardly do anything to break this dependency this at this stage. One-third of respondents in the RBS survey stated that corporate governance in some major Russian companies has not improved significantly. In some cases it even became worse during the crisis. Finally, government control was the third main factor keeping foreign investors away.
Vedomosti concludes with irony that one day investors will feel comfortable in Russia — not only in their central Moscow apartments, but also hopefully working there.
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finance · foreign investment · Russia
