Russia economy

Freelance journalist based in Riga

08 Jan 2024 3 3

Liam Peach

Inserted 9 months ago

“Russia's central bank is a hawkish institution that takes its commitment to inflation fighting seriously. With fiscal policy set to remain loose, the economy likely to continue overheating and inflation pressures to build further, there will be more pressure on the central bank to tighten monetary policy.”

Senior emerging markets economist

15 Sep 2023 2 3

Alexei Firsov

Inserted 1 year ago

“So far, there are no signs that the drop in living standards could lead to unrest. The living standards decline has not reached the point where attitudes towards reality start to change significantly and the fridge clearly begins to beat the TV.”

Founder of social studies think tank Platforma

24 Aug 2022 2 2

Vladimir Putin

Inserted 2 years ago

“We will not have a closed economy, we have not had one and we will not have one. We did not have a closed economy - or rather we did in the Soviet times when we cut ourselves off, created the so-called Iron Curtain, we created it with our own hands. We will not make the same mistake again - our economy will be open. A country like Russia cannot be fenced in.”

President of Russia

09 Jun 2022 3 3

Iskander Lutsko

Inserted 2 years ago

“Three factors have been supporting the rouble: escalating oil prices due to sanctions, capital controls, and a drop in dollar demand and excess FX [foreign exchange] liquidity due to high FX revenues from exports of oil and gas. Due to sanctions and capital controls, an artificial and highly supportive environment” was created for the rouble.”

Chief investment strategist at ITI Capital

02 Jun 2022 8 3

Elvira Nabiullina

Inserted 2 years ago

“Thanks to these factors, inflation is falling faster than we expected. This allows us to lower the key rate today without creating new pro-inflationary risks. We allow for the possibility of further easing of the key rate at upcoming meetings. The first months (since February) were a time for tactical decisions: we had to counteract the first sanctions shock. We managed to protect financial stability and not allow an inflation spiral to unfold. But this, of course, absolutely does not mean that we can breathe easily.”

Head of the Central Bank of Russia

26 May 2022 3 3

Elina Ribakova

Inserted 2 years ago

“In Moscow it may seem that nothing [bad] is happening. But if you are in the Kaluga region or near St. Petersburg, where there are car assembly plants, everyone there knows that in a couple of months they will be out of work.”

Rferl

Deputy chief economist at the Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF)

27 Apr 2022 5 4

Elvira Nabiullina

Inserted 2 years ago

“Sanctions had mainly affected the financial market but now they will begin to increasingly affect the economy. The main problems will be associated with restrictions on imports and logistics of foreign trade, and in the future with restrictions on exports. Russian manufacturers will need to search for new partners, logistics, or switch to the production of products of previous generations. Exporters would need to look for new partners and logistical arrangements and all this will take time.”

Head of the Central Bank of Russia

18 Apr 2022 7 3

Edward Fishman

Inserted 2 years ago

“The U.S. and Europe I do believe deserve a lot of credit for the solidarity and resolve they've shown on sanctions. The sanctions are clearly impacting Russia's economy dramatically. However, I think that we've stalled out a bit. There's a lot of room for escalation.”

Politico

Former Obama State Department official who played a central role in crafting sanctions after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea

31 Mar 2022 2 4

Daleep Singh

Inserted 2 years ago

“What we're seeing is a charade: a Potemkin market opening. After keeping its markets closed for nearly a month, Russia announced it will only allow 15% of listed shares to trade, foreigners are prohibited from selling their shares, and short selling in general has been banned. Meanwhile, Russia has made clear they are going to pour government resources into artificially propping up the shares of companies that are trading. This is not a real market and not a sustainable model-which only underscores Russia's isolation from the global financial system.”

Whitehouse

Deputy national security adviser to Biden and deputy director of the US National Economic Council

24 Mar 2022 5 4

Mario Bikarski

Inserted 2 years ago

“So far there hasn't been very much of a strong government position. There's been no concrete or clearly set-out measures to respond to these sanctions. Different members of the government, including Putin, have said that the situation will be managed and that Russia will survive. But what they've implemented so far are things like tax breaks, credit holidays, and some financial support to large businesses. This will not be sufficient at all. Back in the 1990s there was some international support coming to Russia's aid during this time of crisis. This will not be happening right now. Russia will have virtually no access to any international financing or support.”

Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit

12 Mar 2022 4 4

Dmitry Peskov

Inserted 2 years ago

“Our economy is experiencing a shock impact now and there are negative consequences, they will be minimised. This is absolutely unprecedented. The economic war that has started against our country has never taken place before. So it is very hard to forecast anything.”

Kremlin spokesman

10 Mar 2022 2 3

Vladimir Gimpelson

Inserted 2 years ago

“The Russian economy will rapidly lose human capital, and the rate of its outflow may be higher than in the 1990s. It's still too early to estimate just how many jobs Russia can expect to lose. The ability to mitigate the economic shockwaves left by Western companies' departure will depend on the Kremlin's ability to substitute lost jobs with new ones, and the speed at which the Kremlin can replace partners in the West with ones in the East.”

Head of the Moscow Higher School of Economics’ center for labor market studies

08 Mar 2022 3 4

Dmitry Peskov

Inserted 2 years ago

“As you understand, there must be a corresponding response to economic banditry. This does not mean Russia is isolated. The world is too big for Europe and America to isolate a country, and even more so a country as big as Russia. There are many more countries in the world. Russia ... has an interest in being attractive for investment. Yes, now is hardly a time when we can talk about being attractive for investment, but times change quickly. A time of surging economic growth will replace this time. And a time when these same companies will again return to the market, and will be more than interested in catching up on what they've missed out on and restoring their positions. In some areas, we'll really wait for them [the companies]. In other places we'll wait for them less as their places will be taken by companies from other countries.”

Kremlin spokesman

05 Mar 2022 4 4

Thomas Graham

Inserted 2 years ago

“Russia has worked to sanctions-proof its economy, it has reduced the share of dollars in its foreign currency reserves in favour of the euro and yuan, it has sold off dollar-denominated assets in its sovereign wealth fund, and it has moved to payment in local currencies in its energy trade with China. But the Georgian crisis of 2008 and the Ukraine crisis of 2014 were not initiated by Russia because of high oil prices. Russia was responding to developments that it believed jeopardised its security, much as it would say it is doing today.”

Former White House adviser on Russian affairs and distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

04 Feb 2022 6 5

Dmitry Babin

Inserted 2 years ago

“The negative geopolitical situation - which is threatening to worsen - is exerting pressure on ruble assets. Only a reliable and steady improvement can prevent further weakening of the ruble.”

BCS Investments analyst

24 Jan 2022 1 2

Valery Mironov

Inserted 2 years ago

“The level of indebtedness in Tyva, if it is 78 percent, is truly fantastic. And that shocking figure came from a pretty serious study. Indebtedness of 40 percent is already quite bad, and here they have found 78 percent. That means essentially that for every 10,000 rubles ($133) of salary they receive, they pay 8,000 ($107) on their debts.”

Rferl

Professor of economics at the Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences in Moscow

28 Nov 2021 2 3

Alexei Chekunkov

Inserted 2 years ago

“By federal law we have a large range of responsibilities and powers in concerns of economic development of the Far East. We can carve out land for any investment project. So when an investor comes to us, this investor will get land much faster than going through the usual process. We provide infrastructure to companies who invest, give them what they need such as transport links, roads, power, water, gas and heat.”

Koreatimes

Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic

03 Nov 2021 5 3

Elvira Nabiullina

Inserted 2 years ago

“Through the waves of the pandemic, we see that restrictions are having a diminishing effect on demand, and combined with supply restrictions and business closures, we consider that pandemic restrictions have more of an inflationary influence now.”