MOSCOW - The volume of accumulated foreign capital in Russia's economy amounted to $73.4bn as of the end of September 2004, having advanced by 37 percent in comparison to the corresponding period last year, the Federal Statistics Service reported.

The share of investments made on a return basis (credits of international financial organizations, trade credits, etc.) in the structure of accumulated foreign capital was the largest, namely 57.5 percent compared to 51.7 percent as of the end of September 2003. The share of direct investments was 40.5 percent (46.2 percent last year) and the share of portfolio investments reached 2 percent (2.1 percent last year).

Among major investments in January to September 2004 were the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Cyprus, Germany, Great Britain, the USA, and France. The countries accounted for 79.7 percent of the total volume of accumulated foreign investments in Russia's economy.