18 August 2026
While Vladimir Putin calls on economic officials, state-owned companies, and major entrepreneurs to increase investment, most businesses are planning to do the opposite. The 12,300 companies participating in the Central Bank’s monitoring survey responded negatively to the question of how their investment activity would change in the next quarter.
This is only the third negative figure since 2020, when the Central Bank began asking this question. The first was during COVID (the first quarter of 2020), the second at the beginning of the war (the first quarter of 2022). The worst performance is in trade, services, mining, and construction.
Last year, investment fell by 2.3%, and in the first quarter, it plummeted by 14.3%—a record since 2009. Afterward, Putin declared the launch of a new investment cycle the economic authorities’ primary goal and declared it their KPI: “Investment growth is the most important indicator of their performance.” He believed that investment could lift the Russian economy out of stagnation, though its growth had become “modest,” Putin lamented.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak attributed the failure to major corporations cutting their investment programs. Some are ending old projects and not starting new ones, while sanctions are preventing others from developing. Among those that have announced the cancellation of projects or their postponement are Rosatom, Russian Railways, Gazprom, Novatek, and Rostselmash, while major metallurgical companies have even announced the shutdown of production capacity. At the beginning of the year, VTB reviewed the investment programs of more than 60 of the country’s largest companies for this year; taken together, they are smaller than last year’s in nominal terms.
Businesses have neither incentives nor opportunities to increase investment. Corporate profits, the main source of investment, have been declining for the third year in a row; the budget deficit reached 6.4 trillion rubles by early August, and the government is trying to limit unnecessary spending; lending rates remain unaffordable.
In a stagnant economy isolated from the outside world, investments in production expansion become meaningless. Enterprises surveyed by the Central Bank cited rising costs, insufficient domestic demand, and a lack of working capital as the main problems limiting their operations. These same factors also hinder investment: a lack of internal funds to finance investment ranked second (25.9%), insufficient demand third (19.2%), and the cost of credit fourth.
The main problem, however, is the uncertainty of the economic situation (26.3%). Investment, as Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov noted, is largely a function of “trust and sentiment.” But the war continues, its costs are rising, and it’s unclear what measures the authorities will take to balance the budget. For example, more than a quarter of businesses surveyed by the Center for Strategic Research expect another, third, tax increase next year.
Instead of killing that little runt the spineless ruskies keep watching their shithole going down the drains.
The only reason putin is still out there is that ruSSians believe trump will save them.
They are almost right.
Bankrupt companies don’t have money to invest.
The runt thinks otherwise.
Yeah, its really quite simple, businesses naturally invest when they see an opportunity to make money, otherwise, they don’t. Even a Commie should be able to understand that.
ruSSia is falling. Slowly but constantly. All medvedev achieved has been ruined by putin. ruSSia turned from a global player to an isolated shithole. Well done!
But of course, driven by anti-Americanism, putler wants a ‘new world order’. Good luck with that, KGB asshole!
Once that orange bastard is cleansed from the White House, this plan will hit a brick wall.
While Putinka wants to nationalise the Russian saving accounts…………good luck.