Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) - Accrued foreign investment in Russia increased 33.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2007 to $151.5 billion, the country's top statistics body said Monday. The State Statistics Service said investment in the form of loans from international financial institutions and trade credits accounted for the larger part of accrued foreign investment (50%), followed by foreign direct investment (48.2%), and portfolio investment (1.8%). Cyprus, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and the United States were Russia's main investors in the reporting period, accounting for 84.5% of accrued foreign investment, the statistics service said. The Russian economy received $24.6 billion in foreign investment in January-March 2007, 180% up from the same period of last year, the statistics service said. At the same time, Russia's foreign trade surplus declined 22% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2007 to $28.4 billion, the statistics service said. Russia's foreign trade (under the balance of payments methodology) expanded 16.3% in the reporting period to $114.4 billion, including $71.4 billion in exports (an increase of 6%) and $43 billion in imports (up 38.7%), the statistics service said.