German Investments in Russia at Ten-Year High in 2018: Business Group

German investments in Russia grew to over 3 billion euros in 2018, the highest figure since the 2008 financial crisis, the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) has said, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

“Despite Western sanctions and Russian countersanctions, investments made by German companies in the Russian economy last year was at a record level since the financial crisis of 2008,” the industry association said in a press release on Monday.

“Germany’s central bank, Bundesbank, summed up the statistical results of 2018 and revised upwards its estimate of direct German investments in Russia by more than 1 billion euros. So the figure increased to 3.2 billion euros from 2.1 billion, as reported in the preliminary results,” AHK said.

“Large-scale projects such as the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline have contributed to this high level of investment,” the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce said.

“Apart from large-scale projects like Nord Stream 2, German medium and small-sized businesses are discovering opportunities the Russian market has to offer. The companies that know the Russian market very well are in no hurry to run from sanctions and political problems,” the press service quoted Matthias Schepp, chairman of the board at the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce, as saying.

The volume of Russian-German trade in 2018 increased by 8.4% to $70 billion, while shipments from Germany to Russia compared with 2017 increased by 14.7% and amounted to about $40.6 billion.