The most prominent Western entrepreneurs and companies seem to be very optimistic about investing in the Russian market. Thus, legendary US investor Jim Rogers told Sputnik that “Russia is one of the few [countries] that has low debt and big reserves,” and that the “Russian stock market is up nicely this year”.
According to him, more and more investors have started to consider the country’s climate as favorable for investments.
“More and more people are getting tired of these sanctions against Russia and […] starting to understand that Russia probably was not at fault” in the Ukrainian conflict.
Indeed, Western companies seem to increasingly show interest in the Russian market. Thus, Swedish retail company IKEA is planning to invest €2 billion in the expansion of its store chain in Russia, company’s representative John Tegner told Reuters.
How dare #IKEA to invest $2 B in Russia as the Washington bosses declared that country is under world #sanctions! :-)
— Thing-In-Itself (@FactorOk) 16 апреля 2015
Attendance at IKEA shopping centers grew in 2014 by 2% despite global economic slowdown due to the fact that the company occupies a low-price segment, Tegner said. Since 2001, the number of IKEA shopping centers, which are located in 13 European countries and in China, has increased to 58.
Overall, IKEA is expected to invest up to 3 billion euros in the construction of its stores, including Russia and China, in the next 5-7 years.
