"The year 2006 saw a significant increase in foreign investment. According to initial assessments, it grew to $31 bln almost 2.5 times compared with the previous year," German Gref said at a government meeting.
The minister said last year's investment boom covered all economic sectors, above all oil and gas production, and the construction industry.
Russia's Federal Statistics Service said earlier this week Russia's economy received a total of $55.1 billion in foreign investment in 2006, or 2.7% more than in 2005.
The service said foreign direct investment accounted for 47.5% of the accrued foreign investment, rising three percentage points from 2005. The share of investment in the form of international financial organizations' loans and trade credits contracted 4.7 percentage points to 49.1%.
Cyprus, Britain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, the Virgin Islands, Switzerland and the United States were the largest investors in Russia during the reporting period, accounting for 84.8% of the country's total accrued foreign investment and 85.8% of total foreign direct investment, the statistics service said.
