Investment sluggish in Russia

Fixed investment was up 2.3 % y-o-y in the first quarter. Rosstat reports that on-year growth in total fixed investment excluding small firms and those that operate in the grey economy was 0.4 % and thus lagged the pace of total investment growth, like it did in previous years as well. The lion's share of fixed investment in this category comes from large and mid-sized private firms and government investment. Estimates of seasonally adjusted fixed investment developments vary somewhat. Rosstat calculations show investment grew from the previous quarter in the second half of 2016, but remained flat in the first quarter of this year.

The first quarter brought shifts in oil & gas investment. After three years of robust growth, investment in oil & gas production fell. Investment in pipelines for transmission of oil & gas increased after five years of nearly continuous decline. The sharp drop in investment in the electricity sector continued. Investment in manufacturing dropped further too.

Real growth in fixed investment (large and mid-sized firms)

Source: Rosstat.