2010 GDP: $1.5 trillion
2010 FDI: $41.2 billion
Russia may be one of the world's fastest growing economies, but it is also one of the most difficult places to do business in.
The country is the toughest place in the world for a business to get an electricity connection, taking nearly nine and half months - almost double the time it takes in the rest of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Russia's upcoming presidential elections have further derailed plans to reform the world's fourth biggest power market. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running for president in 2012, said there would be no hike in electricity prices over the first half of next year, a move meant to appease voters ahead of the March elections.
Russian household electricity bills are among the lowest in Europe and industry experts say prices need to rise to fund reinvestment and growth in the sector. The lack of capital expenditure in the power sector is also stoking fears of a likelihood of more accidents and power outages like Moscow's blackouts last Christmas, which suspended flights and left thousands without power.
Russia also ranks near the bottom when it comes to cross-border trade. It takes more than three times longer to export something from Russia compared with the average for OECD countries. Trade with Russia may become easier after December, however, when the country is expected to finally become part of the World Trade Organization (WTO), 18 years after first applying to join the 153-member group. Russia is currently the largest economy outside the WTO.
