Russians bought properties worth 20 million euros in Montenegro in four months

Russia was the biggest investor in Montenegro in the first four months of this year, with 41.6 million euros of direct investments. Russians invested half of the money in the purchase of real estate for which they paid 20 million euros, according to data from the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), Podgorica media reports.

A total of 306.47 million euros of foreign direct investments have arrived in Montenegro in the four months of this year, which is 68.4 million more than in the same period of 2021.

Perhaps the war, that is, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, forced Russian citizens to increase their investments in business and real estate in Montenegro. They invested 15 million more than from January to the end of April last year, when with 25.8 million direct investments, they ranked in the third position on the list of countries that invested the most.

According to the official data of the Directorate of Revenue and Customs, from February 1 to June 9 of this year, Russians have established 1100 companies in Montenegro, mainly in the IT field. Russians own or co-own 18,906 properties and 3.9 million square meters of land in Montenegro, in 13 municipalities.

Last month, the government froze the assets of 34 Russian citizens as part of sanctions over that country’s occupation of Ukraine. Real estate in Herceg Novi, Budva and Zabljak has been frozen.

From the beginning of the year to the end of April, 5.37 million euros of investments arrived in Montenegro from Ukraine. Ukrainians spent most of their money on real estate purchases – 4.6 million, while they invested 594,000 euros in companies and banks. 173,000 euros refers to loans from companies from Ukraine.

After Russia, the most money came from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – 40.64 million euros. Turkey is in third place with 27.9 million euros of direct investments.

Switzerland took the fifth place with 25.5 million euros of investments, while Germany took the sixth place with 25.48 million investments.

Investments from Serbia showed a slight decrease and with 25.2 million euros invested it ranks seventh, while last year with 28 million it was in second place. Serbs spent 12.5 million on real estate, 6.8 million were investments in local companies and 3.6 million were debts within companies.

The USA is in eighth place with 13.6 million euros of investments, mainly focused on the purchase of real estate – 11.2 million. Great Britain follows with 7.2 million direct investments, while Austria occupies tenth place with 6.7 million euros of investments. /The Geopost