Russia Repels Retailers as Ikea Halt Curtails Medvedev Goal
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Ikea, the world’s biggest home-furnishings retailer, is just the type of investor Russia needs -- and isn’t getting -- to overcome the lowest foreign investment rate among leading emerging-market economies.
The Swedish company says it won’t build more stores outside the Moscow region until local officials stop withholding permission for two outlets in the central cities of Samara and Ufa. After investing $4 billion in Russia over 10 years, Ikea placed a freeze on expansion in June 2009.