Russia is set to lose 40 billion dollars worth of foreign investments this year because of western sanctions, which were imposed because of Russia's policy towards Ukraine, dpa quoted Finance Minister Anton Siluanov as saying Monday.
The minister said that, additionally, between 90 and 100 billion dollars will be lost this year because of the 30 percent drop in oil prices, Russian news agencies reported.
Siluanov explained that the sanctions caused investment flows into Russia to dry up. He added that he expects net capital outflows from Russia to reach 130 billion dollars this year.
The figure is more than double the 61 billion dollars of capital flight last year. However, it would closely match the 133-billion-dollar figure recorded by Russia's Central bank in 2008, the year of the global financial crisis.
The minister said that the main reason for capital flight is that people converted their rouble savings into foreign currencies.