Elsewhere, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> In the seven years of Putin's presidency, analysts estimate that
> Russia has earned US$750 billion (euro550 billion) from sales of oil
> and gas, amid record world prices.
Russia's current dollar GDP in 2005 was $763 billion, according to the World Bank. Obviously, then, oil is a big part of Russia's recovery.
According to WB stats, about half of Russia's exports from 2000-2005 were fuels, and exports were 35-40% of GDP. Just 9% of exports in 2005 were of manufactured goods, and less than 2% of exports were of high-tech goods. (Both those shares are down from 2000.) With oil prices up 17% in 2006 (in dollar terms), the contribution of oil certainly hasn't gotten any smaller.
Doug