>For you economisty types out there: In 2000, Russia's current account
>surplus relative to GDP was $46 billion, or 18.5%. How big is this?
Enormous.
Except that the c/a is measured in US$ and GDP in rubles, right? How does the market exchange rate for rubles compare with a purchasing power parity rate? The World Bank has Russian GDP per cap at $7,473 PPP and $2,051 market. The market rate is close to Peru's? But the PPP rate is almost twice Peru's. Which is closer to reality? If you marked up GDP to the PPP rate, the c/a would come down to the 5% range, which is big, but not enormous.
Doug
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Exchange rate is about 30 rubles to the dollar. Nobody knows what actual average incomes are because the shadow economy is enormous and everybody grossly underreports what they earn, but I would guess it is about $400-$500 a month in Moscow, half that in Peter, maybe $100 elsewhere in the country with massive variation elsewhere in the country, very very low in rural areas. One needs to factor in that many, maybe most, Russians own their own apartments or country homes and dachas and so don't pay rent, and most people supplement their diet with food they grow themselves.
A loaf of bread in Moscow is 5 rubles. A kilo of sausage is about 120 rubles. A carton of milk is 27. A half-liter of draught beer in the cheap cafe-bar by my apartment is 30 rubles. A pair of shoes is about 500-600 rubles. A ticket on the metro: 5. An apple: 4. A plate of fried pork with potatoes in the higher-class bar by my apartment: 160 rubles. A color TV would cost about 6,000. My big book of Bakunin's workd, about 500 pages, 90 rubles. Prices are correspondingly lower elsewhere. I took the train to Estonia (Tallinn is a beautiful city, by the way, I recommend it) for just over 4,000 rubles.
PS. I was robbed by the cops the other day. I hate the f'n police.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal