Regional Stock Market Development May Attract More Investments

The development of regional financial markets will promote the attraction of investments, Alexey Savatyugin, the Chairman of the Executive Board of the National Association of Stock Market Participants (NAUFOR), declared today.

Speaking in Ryazan at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee for Financial Markets he stressed that the attraction of investments by placing securities on the stock market was the most promising but the least developed way of attracting funds. According to him, the development of regional financial markets is important because they help "redistribute property more efficiently".

Savatyugin also pointed out that the predictability of state policies was one of the factors that influenced the attraction of investments. "Tax legislation and the system of licensing are changing every six months. It is very bad; it increases investment risks and decreases investment attractiveness", he specified. Moreover, in 2004 pension reforms are to start. Some 72m people, which is a half of Russia's population, will be affected by the first stage of the reforms. It is important where they are going to invest their money, he added. Another important factor is informational openness. A lack of information hinders the activities of companies and individual investors.