Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 15:58:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Dennis Robert Redmond <dredmond at efn.org> Subject: Russian recovery?
Hmm, Eurostat says that Russia, far from being a hopeless basket case, actually ran respectable trade surpluses with the EU during most of the 1990s:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-product/EN?catalogu e=Eurostat&product=6-27092001-EN-AP-EN&mode=download
The report also says (1) Russian food imports declined drastically in 1998 and have stayed that way, suggesting the domestic food sector has regained market share, and (2) Russian exports of manufactured goods to the EU are rising fast (they're now 25% of exports). Chris Doss, does this check out?
- -- Dennis
Yeah. The Russian economy has been booming for the past couple of years -- 2000 saw the largest rate of growth since the early 60s. I don't have the numbers and I'm not an economist anyway, but GDP is still rising fast, led mostly by exports of oil and raw materials, living standards and incomes are going up, and barter has virtually disappeared from the economy. It is now much less common for wages to be delayed, most back wages have been paid, and pensions and the minimum wage are being increased, as well as teacher salaries and wages for civil servants. A lot of capital that fled in the 90s is being repatriated. There's some problem with inflation at present, though.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal