German investments in Russia rose to 2 billion euros over 2018. (picture alliance/Federico Gambarini/dpa/archive)
German direct investments in Russia rose last year to their highest point in a decade, the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce said on Wednesday.
According to data provided by Germany's central bank, such investments increased to 2 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) over the past year.
"This is one of the highest values since the end of the Soviet Union," the chamber of commerce's chief, Matthias Schepp, said in a statement. The previous high of 3.6 billion euros was recorded a decade ago, in 2008.
Bilateral relations were damaged in 2014 over Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis, as the European Union, the United States and other Western powers imposed sanctions against Russia.
Russia's dependence on commodity exports, particularly oil and gas, has also slowed down its economy. This, coupled with the sanctions, has driven a weakening of the Russian rouble in comparison with the euro.
This has made the rouble however favourable for Western investors, and the country's work force has many Western trained specialists attractive for cooperation with German companies, Schepp said.
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