Continual growth since 1998

	Saint Petersburg has become the talk of the town with its newest project Gazprom City. Regardless all its pros and cons, this gigantic project will push the city’s real estate market.

However, space and population figures alone are not economic indicators. These, however, are also impressive. The gross domestic product GDP grew in 2006, compared with the previous year around 6.5 or 6.8 percent –depending on the calculation and version – and is, thus, in-line with the tradition of continual growth since 1998. Currently, the International Monetary Fund IMF made an upward adjustment in its growth forecasts for Russia. In July 2007, IMF reported that Russia’s economy would expand by seven percent. Russia’s Finance Minister Alexej Kudrin even considers exceeding the seven-percent mark feasible.

Thus, Russia is attracting foreign capital. In the first half of 2007, roughly 27.3 billion Euros of foreign capital were invested in Russia. Add the stock market to that, then the amount climbs to 33.4 billion Euros. The most important countries of origin are Great Britain, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. With the total sums, it is important to remember they include both real foreign investments as well as those that were made by Russians operating under foreign company names and structures. Still, or perhaps for that reason: particularly the involvement of their own countrymen demonstrates trust. The retail industry had the largest influx. This is understandable, considering that economic growth normally implies higher buying power.