Russian Economy General News: #10

calripson wrote:Question: Why did the National Wealth Fund decline from approximately $75 billion USD in 11/2018 to only $58.6 billion in 3/2019?

In my opinion, these funds have been notoriously mismanaged from day 1 with historical returns of like 1.5%.

Additionally, the Russian Ministry of Finance constantly under-estimates projected oil prices (they set projections well below actual traded future prices) resulting in overly conservative fiscal policy. They then "divert" oil tax revenues to the above-mentioned funds.

This idiotic approach coupled with a over the top conservative central bank policy has retarded Russian GDP growth for years.

Russia borrowed a test system for officials from ancient China

VIEW: If you transfer such an approach on Russian soil, how much will it help?

A. M: Such a system is suitable for any country only if it is absolutely, one hundred percent, free from corruption. At the same time, I mean not only corruption in a purely monetary sense, but also subjectivism, patronage. For example, in China, to assist your child in obtaining a position that earlier, which was now regarded as “protectionism”, and this is the deepest crime. In old China, there were cases of clues, cheat sheets on exams, but they were driven out for it.

Once we have achieved such purity of exams - it will be fine. To begin with, a hereditary monarchy will not pass, in which the children of high-ranking officials immediately occupy major positions. That is, the official’s son or daughter will have to go through the same exams as any person on the street. If this is provided, and this is possible, much will change for the better. Recall that China was also a very corrupt country.

Sanctions have made a positive contribution to the development of the Russian economy, said the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergey Shvetsov during his speech at the exchange forum.

“Exactly sanctions have made a positive contribution to the development of our economy, oddly enough,” he said.

According to Shvetsov, Russia looks macroeconomically better than other countries.

“We are essentially macroeconomically better looking than other countries. Debt burden, the ratio of internal and external public debt, the ratio of reserves, the total share of imports. That is, all our macroeconomic indicators look very good and form a certain element of trust, ”added Shvetsov.

The new bill on sanctions against the Russian Federation, introduced on April 3 in the US Congress, suggests the possibility of blocking the assets of the five largest Russian banks.

Restrictive measures may concern Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, VEB and Rosselkhozbank, RIA Novosti reports citing the text of the document.

In addition to freezing assets under the jurisdiction of the United States, there is also a softer measure - tightening or banning the opening of accounts.

In addition, the bill proposes to prohibit US citizens from making any investments in the Russian energy sector, as well as transactions with the sovereign debt of the Russian Federation. In addition, the bill provides for the blocking of defense and intelligence agencies and companies of the Russian Federation.

kvs wrote:

Hole wrote:Another comment from LaCarreta:

It's next to impossible to ascertain what is included in the US GDP.
But here is a partial list:

final goods (ex: car) ...
intermediate goods (ex: tires) ...
inventory (has been produced but not yet sold) ...
purely financial transactions (buying and selling of stocks and bonds) ...
Public transfer payments (social security and welfare) ...
Private transfer payments (allowance for a child from parents) ...
second hand sales (ex: ebay)

End of quote.

Interesting. Compared to Russia where even the construction sector wasn´t included into the GDP until last year!

Wow.  If that is true then we have prima facie evidence that Russia's GDP is being deliberately low-balled.   All transactions involving money
exchange have to be counted.    There are no null industries with null employees and with null money turnover.    This brings us the fact that
Russia still has low money turnover economic activity where companies engage in social welfare for their workers such as housing and other
services.   These activities do not involve market pricing but rather heavily discounted pricing.    So the GDP will appear smaller than if they
were spun off into the market economy regime.    That the mortgage burden on the workers is reduced is not considered.