Russia: Foreign direct investments drop 98% in Q1

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) to Russia narrowed by 98% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, the country's central bank said.

FDI amounted to $200 million in the January-March period, from $10.2 billion in the same period last year, the bank announced on Monday.

The country's commodity exports -- such as oil, natural gas and liquid natural gas -- also dropped by 24.5% in the same period to $47.7 billion.

Aleksey Kudrin, the chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Russian Federation, has said the number of unemployed people may reach 8 million from 2.5 million due to the global COVID-19 outbreak.

He also said that the country's economy may narrow by 5% due to the measures taken to curb the pandemic.

The virus has spread to 185 countries, infecting more than 1.9 million people since first emerging in Wuhan, China late last year.

The global death toll has exceeded 119,000, while over 457,000 people have recovered, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing and contributions by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul