Volume of investment by British companies in Moscow's economy has grown 2.3 times in the 5 years

MOSCOW, Russian Federation - Dec. 14, 2020 - PRLog -- As of July 1, the volume of accumulated direct investment from the United Kingdom in Moscow reached almost USD 18 billion, said Vladimir Efimov, Deputy mayor of Moscow for economic policy and property and land relations.

There are many examples of the localization of British companies in Moscow: major companies such as Unilever, Diageo, British American Tobacco, as well as British consulting companies such as Knight Frank, Ernst & Young and Deloitte operate here. The world's leading pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline And AstraZeneca have their representative offices in the capital.

Despite the challenging global economic situation, there is an influx of foreign investment in the city.

"Even amid a downturn in international trade, foreign businesses continue to invest in financial, insurance, trade, industrial and high-tech companies in Moscow. According to the Central Bank, the volume of accumulated direct investment from the UK in Moscow as of July 1 this year reached almost USD 18 billion, a 40% increase compared to April 1 of this year, when the share of British companies accounted for about USD 12.8 billion of investment. Over the past five years, the volume of investments has increased 2.3 times. Five years ago, British investments amounted to only USD 7.6 billion," said Mr. Efimov.

This year, the volume of Moscow's exports to the United Kingdom continues to grow steadily. In the first 9 months of 2020, it increased 2.3 times and amounted to USD 10.5 billion, which amounts to almost 11% of the capital's total exports. Popular exported products include inorganic chemical products, mechanical equipment and machinery, and computers.

Moscow can be considered a gateway to Russia for UK investors and, of course, the most important business partner of the Russian-British Chamber of Commerce, as its Executive Director Alf Torrents pointed out.

Mutually beneficial cooperation between Moscow and foreign companies is backed by data: the volume of accumulated foreign direct investment as of July 1, 2020 amounted to almost USD 260 billion.

"An offset contract is one of many incentives for foreign investors to localize their production in Moscow. It provides companies with a long-term guarantee of product sales, while the city gets new jobs and an increased tax base. Moscow has already signed four offset contracts with pharmaceutical, medical goods and food production companies. The total amount of private investment in these projects amounts to USD 164 million, while the volume of purchases amounts to USD 971 million," said Emil Petrosyan, Deputy Head of Moscow Investment and Industrial Policy Department.