http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2011/12/focus-1
They did not escape the impact of the recent global crisis, but yet overall their economy was not performing poorly, and in fact it has been improving significantly: Inflation decreased to 8% from over 20% at the beginning of 2000s, unemployment has been kept in check, and an average annual growth rate of 5% since 2000.
However, most noteworthy was their fiscal surpluses over this period. This, as we learned in class, was due to their heavy reliance on oil exporting. It is noted in the article that if you stripped out revenues from oil, Russia's public finances have been worsening since 2005. Also, they criticized Russia for its high income inequality, unfriendly business environment. I think such economic conditions is quite compatible with what we saw of Putin's policy from the documentary we watched during class.
Overall, just an interesting piece of information about one of our focuses in class.
2 comments:
Decreasing Russia's dependence on oil revenue would definitely be a good thing for the economy. As the prices continue to rise, more research is going into alternative sources of energy. In order to try to protect itself in the future, the Russian government should work to reduce the reliance it has on oil revenue. This is also the case in many other oil-rich countries.
Russia should improve its education base in order to prepare for the future. Then innovations within the economy and business sphere can take place. This will lead to overall flexibility and the possibility of growth.
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