Today in Russian Business

$18.48 billion of Russian money was spent overseas in the last year, and $7.510 billion was received from abroad, according to new data from the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The amount of outgoing money grew 83.4% on 2006. Lawyers of CBR and the Finance Ministry have released the accounts of French Natexis, frozen January 2, 2008, on the orders of the Paris court as a result of the suit brought by a Geneva-based Noga. The forecasted growth of sovereign funds is 1.5 times less than originally estimated by the National Economic Institute. Russia’s third-largest steel producer MMK said it had paid $230.4 million to increase its stake in steel trader and coal producer Belon. Baltika Breweries, the largest Russian beer company, has agreed to make and sell Asahi Breweries’ beer. Kraft Foods is set to invest $100 million in an instant coffee factory in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region.