Russia: Other Points of View

RUSSIAN FEDERATION WEEKLY SITREP

By Patrick Armstrong

Russia Inc. The Finance Ministry announced that the budget deficit in 2009 was 2.3 trillion Rubles (US$78 billion – about 25% less than anticipated); GDP declined nearly 8%; the Reserve Fund holds about US$60 billion and the National Welfare Fund about US$95 billion. The IMF has raised its estimate for Russia’s GDP growth in 2010 to 4.25% from 4% and estimates that inflation will be 6%. Rumours of Russia’s economic death have been exaggerated: indeed these numbers look rather better than the IMF’s estimates for either the Euro Area or the USA. Medvedev’s calls for Russia to be treated as a major player in the world financial system don’t look so implausible today.

MEDVEDEV TACKLES CORRUPTION

Sberbank Staff Embezzle $180 Million (USD) 

By Anatoly Medetsky

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW - A group of Sberbank employees has defrauded the company of more than $180 million, which was issued in fraudulent loans from a Moscow branch, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

In another high-profile bust, the ministry announced that it had uncovered corruption in the Moscow city government's construction committee - a success attributed to a special unit created on the orders of President Dmitry Medvedev.

Both announcements were made at a news conference held by the ministry's economic crimes department, which later released a summary of these and other crimes it said were uncovered amid the recent economic turmoil.

It was not immediately clear why the ministry chose to release the details all at once.

Sberbank said it had uncovered and reported the theft in March, and a City Hall spokesman said no officials had been arrested for crimes described by the ministry, describing the report as "slander."

Small Businesses Are Under President Medvedev's Protection

by MARINA SELINA

President Dmitry Medvedev believes in the measures that will make life easier for small businesses and encourage business activeness of the population. Presidential decree drawn nowadays will minimize surprise inspections of small businesses (to one examination every three years). Before launching an inspection, a regulating structure will have to acquire a permit from the regional prosecutor's office. "This provision is quite important because officials are clearly overdoing it with surprise inspections these days," to quote Boris Titov of Business Russia who attended the conference in the Kremlin where Medvedev brought up the matter of small businesses.

Russia First Outpaced China as Emerging Economy

December 2007

First time in history, Russia has outpaced China in the Goldman Sachs (GS) rating of emerging economies, Vedomosti reported. GS has been releasing the Growth Environment Score since 2005, compiling it in view of macroeconomic stability, macroeconomic conditions, human capital, political conditions and technological capabilities. The index covers 181 states overall.

Russia has climbed from the 140th position to the 66th one over ten years. It has outpaced China in the latest rating and emerged as a new leader of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

Russia has finally prevailed on more rapid spread of mobile communication and PCs and due to degradation of such parameters as the rule of law and corruption in China. Norway has the top score in the rating and Iraq is rated the lowest.