Putin Won't Have to Look Far for Darkest View of Russian Economy

Moscow Times ^ | Oct 24, 2018

[CondoleezzaProtege]

"For all the damage inflicted by sanctions, Kudrin says most of Russia’s troubles are self-inflicted, an “issue of domestic institutional, structural reforms.” Oil prices are having no impact on growth and demand,” Kudrin said. “Their effect on the economy is practically exhausted.”

The wariness among investors, currency weakness and the VAT hike are all chipping away at the economy..."

From his new perch atop a government agency that monitors the budget, one of the few people President Vladimir Putin has publicly called a friend has some blunt words about what’s in store for Russia’s economy.

Alexei Kudrin, the head of the Audit Chamber since May, warned in an interview that a looming slowdown could be much worse than anticipated. Gross domestic product may expand “considerably” less than 1 percent next year, even as the government sees a downswing to 1.3 percent...

“Unfortunately, a deceleration in growth will be sharper than expected by the government,” he said in Moscow.

The architect of Russian fiscal policy during Putin’s first two terms, Kudrin failed to get a more powerful role after the president won his fourth stint in the Kremlin this year. As finance minister, he became an investor favorite while helping stabilize public finances and pay down debt but left the government seven years ago because of a public feud with then-President Dmitry Medvedev over military spending.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[ClearCase_guy]

Neither Russia nor China are all that strong. They both need to be careful in their actions or else their domestic situations will spiral out of control. And Europe, of course, is in trouble.

The US is in a great position. Good times. Good times.

[AdmSmith]

The problem with the Russian economy is self-inflicted:

Simple math implies that a share of those accumulated surpluses worth more than 200% of Russia’s current national income has disappeared. Considering the steady annual returns that would likely have been earned on those investment, the economists put the total missing foreign wealth on the order 300% of Russia’s current national income, or more.

“there is as much financial wealth held by rich Russians abroad—in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Cyprus, and similar offshore centers—than held by the entire Russian population in Russia itself.”

https://qz.com/1330955/russias-missing-wealth/

more here https://wid.world/document/soviets-oligarchs-inequality-property-russia-1905-2016/