Until, appropriate measures are taken to combat these impending problems in Russia, the economy will be overshadowed by uncertainty. Moreover although Russia has been witnessing a trade surplus in the last few years, more than three-fourths of its exports comprise of commodities such as oil, natural gas, timber, and metals. These commodities being a major part of Russia's exports make the country susceptible to the fluctuations in world prices. .
International trade and foreign investment.
Russia had a successful year for foreign investment in the year 2000. The capital city Moscow benefited the most with $ 1.47 billion of foreign investment. " The other top regions for foreign investment were Krasnodar Territory (almost $1 billion), Sakhalin ($246 million), Leningrad Oblast (just over $205 million), and Moscow Oblast (just under $205 million). Novosibirsk, Tyumen, and St. Petersburg city all received around $145 to $151 million. The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in northern Russia received approximately $100 million in foreign direct investment. Volgograd, Sverdlovsk, Samara, Tatarstan, and Orenburg each received roughly $50-77 million in foreign direct investment." Although foreign investment in Russia has started to flow more consistently, the overall growth of investments by foreigners is far from desired. .
In spite of being rich in natural resources and having a skilled and educated labor force that is known to be inexpensive by international standards, Russia still lags far behind in attracting foreign direct investment as compared to its smaller neighbors in East Europe such as Poland and Czech Republic. As indicated in annexure Russia's total foreign investment in 1999 was$ .billion where as that of Poland was $ .billion and Czech Republic was $ .billion. The largest foreign direct investor in Russia in 2001 was the United States with an investment of $4.08 billion and their leading investment sectors were transportation, communication, fuel and engineering.
