The EY survey of the investment attractiveness of European countries is conducted on the basis of the EY European Investment Monitor (EIM). This database exists to track investment projects, within which new enterprises and jobs are created. It allows for assessing the real inflow of foreign investment into industrial production and services in Europe, excluding portfolio investments and mergers and acquisitions.

In 2016, foreign direct investors announced a record 5,845 new projects in Europe, up 15%. With 5,845 new projects in Europe in 2016 (up 15%), foreign direct investment created 259,673 jobs (up 19%): that’s twice as many as were being created in the wake of the financial crisis. European investors provide 56% of projects
in Europe. Most investments in Europe still come from the United States, but in the aggregate the largest source of cross-border cash flows on the continent (56%) are European investors, primarily from Germany, Britain and France.

In Russia, there has been a positive trend over the review period. Thus, for a year the number of projects in Russia, in which foreign companies have invested, has grown to 205. This indicator was the highest for the last 12 years. The number of FDI projects in Russia reached 205 in 2016. This indicator allowed Russia to rise one position up in the list of top-10 European countries in terms of the number of FDI projects and take the seventh place. Russia got ahead of Belgium, which for the year dropped from sixth to eighth place. In 2015, Russia took the first place in Europe with 61%. In 2016, growth rates were relatively slow, amounting to only 2%. Nevertheless, it turned out to be enough that the final index of 205 projects would be the highest for Russia for the whole period of the survey.