Official numbers now show, that statistics released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have revealed that the USA is the biggest investor in Russia.
Russian business outlet RBC, citing Wednesday’s UNCTAD report, said that the data shows that the USA was the largest investor in Russia, accounting for 8.9% or $39.1 billion of the $441.1 billion total accumulated investments at the end of 2017.
The Central Bank of Russia had earlier said that US investment in the Russian economy amounted to $3.05 billion in 2017 and $500,000 more a year later?
The US Department of Commerce figures on investment to Russia are also almost three times lower than the UNCTAD statistics, amounting to nearly $13.9 billion.
The unexpected differentiation between the figures can be easily explained. The UN body’s report covered so-called ultimate investors, meaning that a country and its businesses may direct funds through one or several conduits.
Therefore, real cross-border financial flows from the USA to Russia, as well as between other countries, could be far more significant than direct investment data suggests.
For example, some foreign investments, including American ones, are made through affiliated companies in Europe. However, in the official Russian statistics, they will be counted as investments from the country where such a firm is located.
The difference between the official statistics and real situation in trade between the USA and Russia was earlier noted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), which represents the trade and investment interests of its 600 members in Russia.
The organization’s data, which was based on a survey of 75 companies, showed that the volume of direct US businesses’ investment in Russia amounted to more than $85 billion over the period of their work in the country.
The UNCTAD report notes that Russia remained one of the 20 largest recipients of foreign capital inflows, but is far behind the top runners, the USA and China, which enjoyed $252 billion and $139 billion in investments respectively.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
