Investing in Russia 2008

Posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | In Russia

Contributed by: Jim Musselwhite (http://www.straightstocks.com) -

Investing in Russia has long been a part of European investor trends, particularly in the UK whose investors hold half of Russian oil company TNK-VR. Investing in Russia has fuelled the expansion of consumer services and industries, helping to move the nation away from a purely industrial and export focused economy.

In light of the recent problems in the stock markets, investing in Russia is most safely done with attention to areas of high consumer demand. Over the last decade there has been a steep increase in employee wages and consumer spending on services and high tech products.

Wise investing in Russia at this point includes investing in funds that are necessary for human sustenance, such as those invested in dairies and other food producing companies. Second, investing in Russia through focus on consumer-driven industries and services, means also investing in technology, as the people of Russia continue to spend large amounts of their money on these types of products.

Investing in Russian technology is probably one of the soundest investments, just after necessities like food, as 2007 saw the largest increase in compute sales to Russians. Similar trends are seen across the IT industry, and are believed to be the signs of a burgeoning IT industry in Russia. Investing in Russian IT may be a solid route to take.

Many economists believe that the positive trends driving the IT market are likely to stay constant and give Russia the potential for becoming one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world. Investing in Russia with these trends in mind could mean investing in companies like IBM Russia, IBS Group, Kraftway or Oracle to name a few.