Russia reports $300 million net inflow

MOSCOW – More money entered Russia than left it last year for the first time in the country’s post-Soviet history, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said Monday.

After a year of record foreign borrowing by Russian companies, Zhukov told a Kremlin meeting that the net inflow of $300 million reported in Central Bank data was “evidence of a positive change in the investment climate in Russia.”
In 2004, when a politically charged tax probe against the Yukos oil company was reaching its climax, capital flight jumped from $1.9 billion in 2003 to $8 billion. In previous years Russia has reported capital flight as high as $25 billion.

But 2005 saw many investors put behind them the fears over property rights that the Yukos case raised.

AP