More than $35 billion leaves Russia in Q1

Investors are taking cash out of Russia out of torrid pace, with some $35.1 billion of capital outflows recorded in the first quarter of 2012.  Russia also lost $35 billion in the final quarter of 2011.

Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC in Moscow, told the Wall Street Journal, “This is coming from domestic businesses people sending their money out of the country, either to avoid corruption or because they have no place to invest it here.”

At the current rate, more than $140 billion would leave Russia in 2012, outpacing the record of $133.7 billion during the economic crisis of 2008.

Read more about capital outflows in Russia here and here.