Direct foreign investments in Russia’s non-banking sector during Q1 2020 reached only $0.2 billion, the business newspaper RBC reported based on data from the Central Bank.

For comparison, that figure in Q1 2019 was $10.3 billion, making for a more than 98-percent decrease.

Portfolio investors have also begun removing capital from Russian markets, causing an outflow of $1.2 billion as opposed to last year’s $6.8-billion inflow, according to RBC.

Yevsey Gurvich, an economist interviewed by the newspaper, explained that economic crises typically lead to capital flows from developing economies to those with more stable financial systems. Russia’s economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been accentuated by its economy’s reliance on oil prices, which have fallen drastically.

(C)MEDUZA 2020