“European investors are waiting for the day, hopefully sometime in July, when Brussels axes sanctions on Russia,” states Forbes.
“I don’t think lifting sanctions changes things in the short term for the Russian economy, but for investor sentiment it will be absolutely massive,” said Martin Charmoy, the company’s managing director.
He explained that there are funds eager to invest in Russia, especially while Russian stock prices remain cheap. For example, the Market Vectors Russia (RSX) exchange traded fund trades at seven times earnings, the cheapest out of the big four emerging economies.
However, he added, they are not able to invest as long as there are sanctions in place, as they will themselves be sanctioned for making their investment.
A US court in Manhattan ordered the French bank to forfeit $8.83 billion and pay $140 million in fines for violating sanctions.
No one wants to be put in BNP's situation, but “when the iron curtain of Western sanctions is lifted”, and when “that risk no longer exists, Russia investors will be rewarded,” says Charmoy.
A similar sentiment is echoed by French newspaper La Tribune, which says that the dropping of the trade sanctions against Russia will be “a breath of fresh air for French farmers.”
There were other signs of the nearing lifting of the anti-Russian sanctions.
“There have been clear signs of a ‘pacification’ process recently,” Simon Quijano-Evans, chief emerging markets strategist at Commerzbank AG, recently told Bloomberg. “It does look as though all sides are starting to push more markedly for resolutions to the current geopolitical mess.”
French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry Emmanuel Macron, earlier told his country’s businessmen in Moscow that France would like to see sanctions lifted by the summer.
Another good sign is the reinstatement of the Russian-French Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Council (CEFIC), which was held this Monday and is the first session held since September 2013.
“Relations between France and Russia are alive and have increased compared to the years that preceded the economic difficulties and continue to this day. The progress is ongoing in the fields of aviation, space and energy," Macron said at the meeting.
They have been blocking roads in several parts of Brittany with trailers, tractors and piles of mud for over a week in protest against low prices.
After a slight rebound to 1.40 euros ($1.52) per kg, considered by producers to be the minimum price to cover production costs, the price of Breton pork fell to 1.09 euros per kg on Thursday, the latest available price.
The local branch of France's largest union, FNSEA, and the young farmers' union said 20 percent of pig farmers were close to bankruptcy and another 20 percent facing enormous problems.
