Will Russian economy falter?
Reasearcher Anders Aslund believes the conflict in Georgia illustrates a strengthened Russian authoritarian rule, and that all hopes for substantial reforms in the country now has ended. He is confident that the Russian economy inevitably will falter.
“Aug. 8 stands out as a fateful day for Russia. It marks Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s greatest strategic blunder. In one blow, he wiped out half a trillion dollars of stock market value, stalled all domestic reforms and isolated Russia from the outside world”, Mr. Åslund writes in the Moscow Times. The researcher from the Peterson Institute for International Economics believes Russia has failed to introduce the structural reforms necessary for long-term sustainable growth. He believes that it is easy to compile 10 reasons why Russia is likely to experience lower growth in the near future than in the last nine years, among them corruption, bad infrastructure, the ongoing re-nationalization of economy, increased protectionism, insufficient reforms, stagnant energy production and inefficient banks.
