Spectacular hike in fdi in Russia - Foreign direct investment (fdi) in Russia doubled last year to US$27.8 billion, according to figures released by the Russian federal statistics office. This spectacular rise in the pulling power of the Russian economy is confirmed by figures released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which uses different categories and suggests that fdi in Russia totalled €48.9 billion in 2007. This is the first time that fdi in Russia has exceeded fdi from the EU Eastern European countries (€38bn) and even Japan and big emerging economies like Brazil (€38bn). Fdi in Russia remains well below fdi in China (€120bn) and fdi in big Western economies like the United States (€193bn), the UK (€171bn) and France (€123bn). The biggest investors in Russia are led by the United Kingdom, followed by the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Cyprus. Cyprus channels Russian capital invested abroad. Boosted by the high price of oil and a household spending frenzy at home, the Russia economy, ranked about 14th in the world's top economies, experienced its ninth year of growth in a row in 2007 since the severe financial crisis of 1998. Russia's GDP grew 8.1% in 2007 and is expected to reach 7% this year, according to Russian finance minister Alexeï Kudrin, who is forecasting annual fdi to rise to US$45 billion or US$50 billion in the next three years.