CAPE TOWN. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Annual direct foreign investment will amount to $45 billion to $50 billion in the next three years, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told the press in Cape Town on Sunday.

"In the next three years we expect $45 billion to $50 billion annually in direct foreign investment in the Russian economy. If we build up the stability of our economy, the same can be said in the long term," he said.

Kudrin said that the liberalization of capital flows has resulted in the influx of capital in the amount of $41 billion last year. The influx for 2007 is estimated at $70 billion to $80 billion, he said. "This is a very rapid influx, of course. Actually this is forming new economic indicators for Russia," he said.

In the minister's opinion, this is creating a good environment for attracting investment in Russian companies. "We expect an increase in investment of 18% to 20% this year which is a record rise in all investment in capital assets," he said.

Kudrin believes that Russia has significantly expanded the possibilities of attracting any financial funds. "If in the past we were dependent primarily on Russian banks and only major companies could borrow from world markets, today the list of proposals of investing in Russia as grown impressively," he said.

"Clearly in this connection we will reach a level of direct foreign investment of about 2.7% of the GDP this year which amounts to the level of China," he said.