CIA - The World Factbook -- Russia - Alina Marriage Agency

in the US: telephone: [1] (202) 298-5700, 5701, 5704, 5708
FAX: [1] (202) 298-5735
consulate(s) general: Houston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle
Diplomatic
representation
from the US:
Flag
description:
Economy
Economy -
overview:
chief of mission: Ambassador William J. BURNS
embassy: Bolshoy Deviatinskiy Pereulok No. 8, 121099 Moscow
mailing address: PSC-77, APO AE 09721
telephone: [7] (495) 728-5000
FAX: [7] (495) 728-5090
consulate(s) general: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
Russia
Russia ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging
7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil
prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since
2003 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played
a significant role. Over the last six years, fixed capital investments
have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal
incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During
this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has
continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international
financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. The federal budget
has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2007 with a surplus of about
3% of GDP. Over the past several years, Russia has used its
stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era
sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Foreign debt is
approximately one-third of GDP. State debt has declined, but
commercial debt to foreigners has risen strongly. Oil export earnings
have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion
in 1999 to some $470 billion at yearend 2007, the third largest
reserves in the world. During PUTIN's first administration, a number
of important reforms were implemented in the areas of tax, banking,
labor, and land codes. These achievements have raised business and
investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects, with foreign
direct investment rising from $14.6 billion in 2005 to approximately
$45 billion in 2007. In 2007, Russia's GDP grew 7.6%, led by nontradable
services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to
oil or mineral extraction and exports. Rising inflation returned in the
second half of 2007, driven largely by unsterilized capital inflows
and by rising food costs, and approached 12% by year-end. In 2006,
Russia signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a
prelude to possible WTO entry, and its companies are involved in
global merger and acquisition activity in the oil and gas, metals, and
telecom sectors. Despite Russia's recent success, serious problems
persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than
80% of exports and 30% of government revenues, leaving the
country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's
manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or
modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic
PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com