Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s foreign direct investment plummeted an annual 48.1 percent, the most on record, to $10 billion in the first nine months of the year after the economy slid into its worst crisis in a decade.

Overall foreign investment, including credits and flows into the securities markets, was $54.7 billion, 27.8 percent less compared with the same period a year earlier, the Moscow- based Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today. The office started collecting the data in 1999.

Gross domestic product of the world’s biggest energy producer eased its decline to 8.9 percent last quarter from a record 10.9 percent in the three months through June. Energy products make up about 70 percent of export revenue, with this year’s 82 percent increase in Urals crude driving Russia’s recovery. The government has said Russia is relying on investment to sustain its recovery as some of the world’s biggest brands reduce their presence in the country.

KBC Groep NV, Belgium’s biggest bank and insurer by market value, said this week that it intends to sell its banking unit in Russia as it revises plans for regional expansion. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, has yet to open a single store in Russia since it started to look into entering the market more than a year ago.

Carrefour SA, Europe’s biggest retailer, announced last month that it will sell its business in Russia, several months after opening its first store in the country. The decision was prompted by the “absence of sufficient organic growth prospects and acquisition opportunities,” the company said

Foreign investment in stocks and bonds tumbled 65.8 percent to $348 million in the first nine months compared with the same period last year, the Statistics Service said.

Wholesale, Retail Lead

Other foreign investments, including loans from foreign banks and Russian companies’ foreign divisions, were down 20.9 percent in the period to $43.7 billion, the data showed.

Russia’s wholesale and retail industry received the largest amount of investment in the first nine months, followed by manufacturing and transport and communications, according to the Statistics Service. Foreign investors brought $16.3 billion into the retail industry, including stock and bond purchases.

The Netherlands was the largest foreign investor in Russia in the first six months, followed by Cyprus and Luxembourg. The U.S. was the eighth biggest.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 20, 2009 04:00 EST