Moscow’s regional GDP rose 5.6% last year to €62bn. Last year Moscow attracted €15.9bn in inward investment, €10.5bn from overseas. Central office space is expensive at an average of €480 per m2 per year. However, despite high levels of education, employee costs remain low. Middle managers earn an average of less than €10,000 a year, secretaries €5800. Low buying power is an issue and just 9% of the population own a mobile phone, compared with 95% of the adult population in Brno in the Czech Republic.

Thanks to its Soviet heritage, the average Muscovite may be poor, but they are well educated. The city has more than 200 university level institutions and one of the most spectacular underground systems in the world.