PUTINS ECONOMIC RECORD: IS THE OIL BOOM SUSTAINABLE?

1

Peter Rutland

The economic system of Russia has undergone such rapid changes that it is
impossible to obtain a precise and accurate account of it.... Almost everything
one can say about the country is true and false at the same time.

J ohn Maynard Keynes, 1925

Western observers are divided over how to assess President Vladimir Putins economic record.
Some credit Putin with having engineered a rags-to-riches transformation of the Russian
economy. Others condemn him for having squandered an opportunity to complete the transition
to a competitive market economy, a job left half-done in the 1990s.
The raw data is impressive. The eight years of Putins presidency saw a doubling of
living standards, a 70 percent increase in GDP, the paying down of nearly all Russias foreign
sovereign debts, and the accumulation of a war-chest of $402 billion foreign currency reserves as
of March 2008. (www.cbr.ru) In current dollar prices, GDP went from $200 billion in 1999 to
$1.26 trillion in 2007. Russia moved up from being the 20
th
largest economy in the world to the
seventh. The World Bank estimates the Gross National Income per capita at $5,780 in 2006, with
a GNI of $823 billion. (World Bank 2007)
Skeptics argue that this economic boom cannot be sustained, and is a house built on sand.
Putins success is simply the luck of the geological draw: Russia is the worlds number two oil
producer and number one natural gas producer, and global prices for oil have tripled since 2000.
The global commodity boom cannot be sustained indefinitely, and will inevitably be followed by
a slump. Critics suggest that there is little sign that Russias political and economic institutions
are prepared for such a development. The surge in oil revenue has produced a spike in consumer
spending, largely satisfied by imports, but has not stimulated a recovery of Russian
manufacturing or agriculture. The lions share of the wealth has been siphoned off by the new
rapacious class of oligarchs, who are investing most of it abroad. The second major beneficiary of
the oil boom has been the Russian state, which has doubled the ranks of bureaucrats and tripled
spending on the military. During the second half of the Putin presidency, the state has reasserted
its control over key industrial corporations, especially in the oil sector, leading to the emergence
of a new hybrid form of state oligarchic-capitalism.
Despite lip-service to the rule of law, no serious efforts have been made to dislodge the
corrupt elites that rule Russia, except for isolated cases where an individual oligarch fell foul of
the Kremlin. And despite ambitious plans to diversify the economy and build on Russias
technological and human capital, Russia has shown little sign of being able to compete in cutting-
edge industrial sectors. A downturn in oil prices will expose the shaky foundations of Russias
development model. Even absent a price collapse, only a small proportion of the oil receipts are
trickling down to the mainstream of Russian society. The ranks of the poor and disenfranchised
will continue to grow, leading to political challenges which Russias authoritarian regime is ill-
equipped to handle.
Both critics and defenders of Putin can find persuasive evidence in support of their
position. Putins economic record certainly looks good compared to the chaos and immiseration
of the 1990s. But the key arguments that divide the two camps revolve around the economys
future trajectory: above all, whether or not growth can be sustained in the face of a leveling off or
decline in global oil prices. So, 17 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is still in a

1
This is a preprint of an article submitted for consideration in the Europe-Asia Studies (2008), University
of Glasgow; Europe-Asia Studies is available online at : http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk
state of transition from the failed model of the past to an as yet uncertain future. This article
begins by reviewing Russias economic trajectory under Putin and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin,
then evaluates whether Russia is, or is not, falling prey to the resource curse the argument
that its oil and gas wealth condemns it to economic instability, social inequality and political
authoritarianism.

An economy transformed
In the 1990s Russia experienced a wrenching slump, during which its GDP fell by 40 percent. It
started to recover in 1997, stumbled in 1998, and then resumed growing, eventually regaining the
1990 level in 2002. Since 2000 GDP growth has averaged just under 7 percent a year, while real
wages have grown at double that rate and investment has risen at 12 percent annually. Russias
real income per capita (in constant 2000 dollar equivalents of purchasing power parity, or PPP)
rose from $5,964 in 1998 to $9,650 in 2005. (World Bank 2007, p. 15) The government has been
running a substantial surplus, and unemployment has fallen below 7 percent. Labor productivity
grew 49 percent 1995-2005, ranging from a 23 percent improvement in retailing to a 73 percent
rise in construction. (Rosstat, Sosunov and Zamulin 2006) Total factor productivity grew by 5.8
percent per year, and the World Bank (2007, p. 17) estimates that only one third of that increase
came from increased capacity utilization. Firm turnover (i.e. the exit of inefficient firms and the
entry of new ones) accounts for half the total improvement. Stock market capitalization rose to 44
percent of GDP by 2005, while the RTS index went from 300 in 2000 to 2,360 in December
2007. (Lazareva et al 2007) In September 2006 the market capitalization of the 200 biggest firms
was $833 billion (one third of which was Gazprom). The percent of the population living in
poverty fell from 38 percent in 19998 to 9.5 percent in 2004, and the share of family budgets
spent on food fell from 73% in 1992 to 54% in 2004. (Mroz et al, 2005) The only
macroeconomic indicator that gives cause for concern is inflation, which dropped from 20 percent
in 2000 to 9 percent in 2006, before creeping back up to 11-12 percent level.
During the lost decade of the 1990s Russia did manage to become a market economy,
albeit one with Russian characteristics. Seventy percent of economic activity now takes place in
legally independent corporations, and a similar proportion of economic transactions occur
through market-clearing prices. (Aslund 2007) The centralized, command economy was smashed,
although elements of such a model persist at local level in some regions (such as Tatarstan or
Kalmykiya).

INSERT TABLE ONE

During the 1990s Russia was becoming more integrated into the global economy than
was the Soviet Union. Trade went from 17 percent of GDP in 1990 to 48 percent in 2004.
2
Most
of this trade is with Europe, and not with the former Soviet states. By 2005 the Commonwealth of
Independent States only accounted for 15 percent of Russias exports and 23 percent of its
imports.(IMF 2006) This external opening has been the most dynamic and successful aspect of
Russias market transition. But Russias charge into the global market was led by the energy
sector. (IEA 2005; EIA 2006) Clearly, Russias comparative advantage in the contemporary
global economy lies in energy and energy-intensive industries such as metals and chemicals. Oil
and gas accounted for 61 percent of Russias export earnings in 2005 (World Bank 2006), with
the value of exports tripling from $76 billion in 1999 to $241 billion in 2005. Manufactures
account for only 8 percent of Russias exports, and only 3 percent are in the medium-high
technology category.

2
World Bank 2004. The 48 percent share in part reflects the under-valued exchange rate. The World
Banks purchasing power estimate for 2002 boosted Russian GNI from $306 billion to $1,165 billion. This
would accordingly reduce the share of trade in GDP.
2

INSERT TABLE TWO AND THREE

When Putin took office in 2000 he voiced support for the need for continuing market
reform. The most radical measure pushed through by Economy Minister German Gref was a
reform of the tax system, under which a progressive income tax from 12 to 30 percent was
replaced with a flat tax of 13 percent in 2001. The payroll tax was cut from 40 percent to 26
percent and corporate profit tax was raised to 35 percent but later cut to 24 percent. The income
tax cut was followed the next year by a 25 percent increase in tax revenue, probably due to the
reporting of previously concealed income, rather than to any incentive effect (Keen et al 2006, p.
28) The reform also coincided with an increase in enforcement by the tax police, so advocates of
the Laffer Curve should be wary of using Russia as an example vindicating their theory. Another
significant step was a new law on licensing, which cut the wait time and reduced the list of
business activities which required licenses from 250 to 103. (Yakovlev and Zhuravskaya 2007)
Despite these steps, the climate remains difficult for small business development, with small
firms accounting for only 17 percent of employment compared to 60 percent in the US. (Reut
2007) The Transparency International index of corruption perceptions give Russia exactly the
same dismal score (2.3 on a 10-point scale) in 2007 that it earned in 1997.
3

The rise and fall of oligarchic capitalism

Russias political economy has undergone a switchback ride since 1985. Mikhail Gorbachevs
faltering economic reforms helped to trigger systemic collapse. President Boris Yeltsins embrace
of radical liberalization in 1992 led not to a competitive market economy, but to oligarchic
capitalism. That system in turn imploded in the August 1998 crash. After 18 months of political
stalemate Putin came to power in December 1999, and proceeded to construct a new model of
state corporatism.
Yeltsins crash privatization program was intended to create a market economy by
dispersing ownership throughout the society, but when the dust settled the result was a
remarkable degree of concentration of ownership in the new private sector. According to a World
Bank study, by 2001 the countrys 23 largest firms were estimated to account for 30 percent of
Russias GDP, and these firms were effectively controlled by a mere 37 individuals. (World Bank
2004, Guriev 2004) By international standards, this is an astonishing concentration of wealth and
industrial power in such a large country. It was all the more surprising given the fact that private
ownership had been outlawed for decades, and the entire economic elite did not exist as a class
just 15 years earlier. Some economists have argued that this ownership concentration is a rough
and ready solution to the problem of enforcing property rights in absence of strong rule of law.
(Lazareva et al 2007, p. 13) A 2005-06 study of a sample 1,000 firms similarly found that 35
percent had a single majority shareholder. (Guriev 2007)
Western observers were initially uncomfortable with the rise of the oligarchs, whose
ascendance coincided with a wave of lawlessness, contract killings and grotesque displays of
wealth. At least the appearance of the oligarchs seemed to refute the argument that Russians were
innately incapable of behaving like entrepreneurs, of taking risks and reaping the rewards. Soon,
Western economists were arguing that the oligarchs were playing a necessary role in creating the
Russian market economy, akin to the US robber barons of the late 19
th
century. (Shleifer and
Treisman 2001) The oligarchs pushed out communist-era bureaucrats and managers, and in the
pursuit of personal gain they turned the sows ear of soviet enterprises into the silk purse of

3
That placed Russia 121
st
out of 163 countries in 2007, an improvement over 49
th
out of 52 in 1997.
http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2007
3
profit-seeking firms. Liberal reformers such as Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar were convinced that
the oligarchic capitalism that they helped to construct in Russia beat the alternative which they
portrayed as a return to central planning. (Gaidar 2007)
But to function in the textbook manner, free markets require multiple producers and free
entry of new firms, plus a set of institutions that were conspicuously absent in Russia (rule of law,
free press, banking system, regulatory agencies, etc.) No matter. The reformers assumed that
oligarchic capitalism was a transitional phase, one that would give way to liberal capitalism after
the economic system had matured. Once the oligarchs had accumulated some wealth, they would
have a strong personal interest in seeing the rule of law take hold, in order to protect their wealth
from the next wave of oligarchs. They would not want to go through life looking over their
shoulder at the next asset-stripper, driving around in columns of heavily-armored vehicles, and
hiding their families from kidnappers behind high dacha walls and on foreign estates. The
counter-argument was that the oligarchs had a vested interest in trying to preserve the status quo
of partial reform, since further liberalization would compete away their oligopolistic profits.

(Hellman 1998)
The collapse of oligarchic capitalism was due to deep contradictions in the model, and
not merely contingent factors such as Yeltsins incompetence or the shocks emanating from the
1997 East Asian financial crisis (including a slump in the world oil price). Three problems stand
out. First, the oligarchs were parasitic on the Russian state. They were draining it of assets and
revenues while profiteering from the high-interest treasury bonds (GKOs) issued to cover the
yawning budget deficit. It was this spiraling pyramid of GKOs that was the main factor behind
the 1998 crash. Second, the oligarchs lacked a political strategy for legitimating their rule in the
eyes of the Russian public. The cynical manipulation of public opinion through campaign
shenanigans and pre-election budget spending may have secured Yeltsins re-election in 1996,
but there was no guarantee that such tactics could work in each future election. Third, the
oligarchs were deeply divided among themselves. They did not trust each other, and fought
bitterly over successive privatizations. They were also split over the Yeltsin succession. The
oligarchs did not have an institutional procedure for resolving disputes among themselves. The
only mechanism they had was appeal to Boris Yeltsin. Given that Yeltsin was physically
incapacitated for most of the time, this meant they competed for the favor of the Kremlin
courtiers (the Family) who controlled access to the president. Yeltsins second and final term as
president was due to end in March 2000, and the oligarchic system did not have any procedure in
place for picking a successor.
Thus at the end of the Yeltsin era, Russias evolution towards what is regarded in the
West as a normal market economy was stalled in midstream. Powerful leaders had a vested
interest in preserving the status quo, and there was no significant coalition of groups with a stake
in further reform. The economy had been sufficiently liberalized to enable the oligarchs to enrich
themselves, but not so much as to expose them to effective competition (from foreign companies,
for example). This situation was inefficient and morally indefensible, but it was unclear whether
or not it was politically and economically stable. Could it continue indefinitely, or would it
require a fresh round of market reform? In the end, Russia moved in an unexpected third
direction, neither the status quo nor a resumption of reform the return of state control.
After his election as president in May 2000 Putin moved quickly to consolidate his
political authority, his first decisive step being to wrest control of the broadcast media from the
oligarchs. At the same time he assured corporate leaders that he would not interfere with their
business activities, so long as they stayed out of politics. (Slavutinskaya 2000) Putin maintained
this equidistance approach until 2003, when many business leaders became heavily involved in
the preparations for the December 2003 State Duma elections. It is estimated that 20 percent of
the candidates were directly linked to business corporations, even including the Communist Party
nominees. (Mereu 2003) The most politically active firm was Yukos, Russias largest oil
company, which was headed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Yukos was poised to break the
4
monopoly of the state-owned oil pipeline company Transneft, with plans to build export pipelines
to Arkhangelsk and to China. It also seemed to be preparing itself for sale to a Western buyer
(thought to be Chevron). Various Yukos executives were arrested on fraud charges in J uly 2003,
and in October of that year Khodorkovsky, the richest man in Russia with an estimated net worth
of $16 billion, was himself jailed on vague charges of tax evasion. He was eventually sentenced
to eight years in prison. Yukos was forced into bankruptcy through exaggerated claims for tax
arrears, and its prize assets were sold off in a rigged auction to the state-owned Rosneft. One
could not ask for a more vivid illustration of the limits of business independence in Russia. The
fact that business had evolved into a narrow oligarchy made it relatively easy for the state to
recapture the commanding heights of the economy. But even as late as 2003, most Western
observers had assumed that the system of oligarchic capitalism was there to stay: few foresaw
Putins crackdown.
In retrospect, we can see that oligarchic capitalism was highly unstable, since the
economic fate of the individual oligarchs was too closely tied to the course of state policy. Who
would be given the right to acquire the remaining assets of state industry as they were put up for
privatization? For how long would the government retain control over the natural monopolies
such as the railways, Gazprom, the electricity monopoly Unified Energy System, the oil pipeline
operator Transneft, the telecom holding Rostelecom? How could the public be persuaded to bite
the bullet and accept postponed but necessary reforms of the taxation system, cuts in social
benefits, and increases in utility prices?
Even though Putin beat back the political challenge of the rising capitalists, the oligarchs
as a class have not disappeared. On the contrary they have increased in number and saw their
wealth multiply under his rule. The oligarchs benefited from Russias booming economy, its
soaring stock market, and successful stock offerings to domestic and foreign investors. Forbes
magazine reported there were 33 individuals in Russia in 2006 with personal assets above $1
billion, the third highest number of billionaires in the world. Their ranks had risen to 87 by 2008,
putting Russia in second place after the US.
4
Forbes estimates their combined assets doubled
from $90 billion in 2005 to $172 billion in 2006, and more than doubled again to $455 billion by
2008.

The shift to state corporatism

One disturbing trend in recent years has been the increasing fusion of state and oligarchic power.
This has been most pronounced in the all-important oil sector. In the wake of the break-up of
Yukos the share of oil output produced by majority state-owned companies rose, from 10 percent
in 2000 to 42 percent in 2008. (Elder 2008) The overall state share in the economy rose from 30
percent to 35 percent. (Buckley and Ostrovsky 2006) The main Yukos production unit,
Yuganskneftegaz, was sold to state-owned Rosneft for $9.35 billion in December 2004. Its other
two main subsidiaries, Samaraneftegaz and Tomskneft, were sold to Rosneft by auction in May
2007 for $13.2 billion. A plan for Gazprom to absorb Rosneft was derailed after months of
backroom maneuvering, but the government went ahead with a complex plan to buy 10.7 percent
of Gazprom shares in order to raise the state holding to 51 percent, using a loan to be paid off
with a public offering of $7.5 billion of Rosneft stock. Gazprom was compensated for its failure
to take over Rosneft by being allowed to buy independent gas producer Nortgaz and Roman

4
Kroll 2008. There are 1,125 billionaires on the list, including 439 Americans, 87 Russians and 59
Germans.
5
Abramovichs Sibneft, the fifth largest oil company, in November 2005. Gazprom paid $13
billion for 73 percent of Sibneft shares, close to a market price.
5

This growing state-controlled sector was acquired and managed through somewhat
unorthodox methods. The state was just as complicit as the oligarchs in using shell companies,
off-shore banking and other nefarious maneuverings to conceal its economic activity from outside
observers. This tradition extends back to the 1990s, and includes a broad spectrum of government
and parastatal agencies, from the Orthodox Church to the Central Bank. But it has become even
more entrenched under Putin. The initial sale of Yukos assets, for example, was laundered
through a false intermediary company, Baikal trading. One third of Russian oil is sold through a
Swiss-based intermediary Gunvor. (Nemtsov and Milov 2008, p. 14) Russias gas sales to
Ukraine have been channeled through a succession of intermediary companies (first Itera, and
then RosUkrEnergo) who are registered through a shadowy network of internationally-registered
companies beneficiary owners are unclear. (Global Witness 2006) The states total shareholding
portfolio is estimated to have a market value of $469 billion in 2007, equal to 40 percent of the
capitalization of Russias stock market. (Vedomosti, 6 February 2008).
Government oversight of the companies is achieved through the placement of currently-
serving members of the executive branch on corporate boards, in some cases as chairmen. Many
of these are drawn from Putins own retinue. For example, in J uly 2004 Putins deputy chief of
staff Igor Sechin replaced Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref as chairman
of Rosneft. Presidential aide Viktor Ivanov chairs Aeroflot and the Almaz-Antei arms firm;
presidential aide Igor Shuvalov chairs Sovkomflot; First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov
heads the United Aircraft Building Corporation. Gurievs (2007) survey found that 29 percent of
the firms in the sample had a government representative on their board. One anonymous banker
told a journalist that All big companies have to put people from the security services on the
board of directors. (Mereu 2008) Even Arkady Dvorkovich, the head of the presidential
analytical directorate, complained that the new state corporations are exempt from basic audit
requirements. (Belyakov 2007) Putin assured leaders of the Chamber of Trade and Industry that
We dont want to create state capitalism, but his actions dont correspond to this sentiment.
(AFP, 11 December 2007)

Russia as a global player

Russia made a dramatic about-turn in the Putin era, from being a basket case of the global
economy to a magnet for foreign investors. Russia alone was responsible for 48 percent of the
rise in global oil supply 1998-2004. (Tompson and Ahrend 2006) At the same time as Putin was
building this new model of state-oligarchic capitalism, he remained committed to integration with
Western economic institutions. And this was not merely a rhetorical commitment. There are at
least four reasons for this engagement. First, Putin was aware that Russia was dependent on its
energy customers in Europe. Second, knew that Russia needed some Western managerial and
technological expertise but he preferred to tap this without conceding ownership or control over
the Russian economy. Third, Putin wanted the political cover that he hoped will come with
Western corporate involvement. The most blatant example was the appointment in 2005 of
former German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder to chair the North European Gas Pipeline project
(Nordsteam), a plan to lay a pipe on the seabed to Germany bypassing Poland. The same year
former U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans was invited to chair the Rosneft board. Finally,
Moscow is confident that the new state corporations like Gazprom and Rosneft, alongside private

5
By 2004, the largest companies by share of reserves were: Lukoil 23 percent, Rosneft (including
Yuganskneftegaz) 14 percent, TNK-BP 12 percent, Yukos 11 percent, Surgut 9 percent, Gazprom 9
percent, Tatneft 8 percent and Bashneft 3 percent. EIA 2006; Grace 2005; Considine and Kerr 2002
6
companies like Lukoil, will become increasingly powerful players on the international energy
stage, through increasing acquisitions of assets in foreign countries.
Hence Western corporations are being allowed in as partners in energy projects, but on a
minority basis. In 2004 ConocoPhillips bought an 8 percent stake in Lukoil, now raised to 17
percent, and Conocos Kevin Meyers was elected to Lukoils board. Royal Dutch Shell was
forced to sell a majority stake in Sakhalin II to Gazprom, for $7.45 billion, in December 2006;
and BP-TNK was forced to sell a majority stake in its Siberian Kovykta gas field to Gazprom in
J une 2007. A new law regulating 33 strategic sectors of the economy will bar foreign
companies from more than 50 percent ownership of any oil field over 70 million tons, and will
require government approval for even a 10 percent stake. (Gudkov 2008) In J uly 2007 Gazprom
announced that it had selected Frances Total as a partner in the development of its giant
Shtokman offshore field in the Arctic. Total was granted a 25 percent stake, and in October 2007
another 24 percent stake was awarded to Norways StatoilHydro. The winners will be expected to
allow Gazprom to acquire a share in their assets overseas. Recent years have seen a dramatic
surge in cross-border acquisitions in both directions. In 2007 foreigners bought $26.6 billion of
assets inside Russia, while Russian firms spent almost as much $23.3 billion in foreign
acquisitions. (Vedomosti, 13 March 2008)
Ironically, Western bankers have played an active role in financing Putins
renationalization program. In 2005-06 Rosneft borrowed $8 billion, Gazprom $13 billion, and
Rosneftegaz $7.5 billion. The banks are keen for this business because they expect it to lead to
lucrative fees with upcoming stock offerings. In December 2005 Putin signed into law the lifting
of the ring fence which had limited foreigners to 20 percent of Gazprom shares. In J uly 2006
Rosneft sold off 15 percent of its stock in a public offering (IPO) on the London stock exchange,
raising $11 billion. Russia introduced full convertibility of its currency in J uly 2006. Also striking
has been a surge in foreign borrowing by Russian corporations both state-owned and private. In
the first nine months of 2007 non-bank corporations took out a net $72 billion in foreign currency
loans, roughly equal to the amount of capital that is being exported. (ww.cbr.ru) This curious
pattern of capital circulating out of and back into Russia testifies to the inability of Russias
financial institutions to play an intermediary role But other factors may be involved, from tax
evasion to a deliberate strategy to promote Russias integration with the West.

Can Russia escape the resource curse?

We know that one of our main tasks is the diversification of the economy. That it is
essential to depart from a model based on raw materials is obvious.

Vladimir Putin, speaking in Novosibirsk, 11 J anuary 2005.

Oil and gas played an important role in the Soviet economy, and the collapse of oil prices in the
1980s is now widely cited as one of the main factors precipitating the collapse of the USSR in
1991. (Kotkin 2001) The eightfold increase of oil prices in the 1970s provided a boost to the
Soviet economy, and helped the Soviet system stagger on for another decade. However, prices
dipped in the mid-1980s, and the $7 billion shortfall that caused in the Soviet budget forced
Gorbachev to borrow from the West to finance long-overdue economic reforms. (Gaidar 2005,
2007) Resource curse advocates argue that the resulting liberalization in the 1990s was just a
temporary phenomenon, and that Russian democracy doomed to fail once the oil price went back
up again. (Nemtsov and Milov 2008)
Global experience strongly suggests that oil is bad for democracy and bad for sustained
economic growth. Carles Boix argues that there are zero examples of a successful transition to
democracy in a country where oil generates more than one third of its export earnings, which
7
sounds like a death sentence for Russian democracy.
6
Morton Halperin et al contend that only
eight countries in the past 20 years have enjoyed sustained growth under authoritarianism, while
60 authoritarian regimes saw sub-par growth.
7
In his 2005 book, Democracy Derailed in Russia,

Stephen Fish concludes from cross-
national analysis that Russian democracy is indeed blighted by a variant of the resource curse.
(Fish 2005, ch. 5) However, he is not able to find clear evidence that the curse works in Russia
through the three vectors identified by Michael Ross the tendency of oil revenues to delay
modernization; their use to buy off social protest (the rentier effect); or their use to fund a
repressive state apparatus. (Ross 1999, 2001) Russia is clearly a modern society, as measured by
urbanization, education and industrialization, so the resource curse had not prevented
modernization. Evidence for a rentier state buying off of social discontent is not strong: Russian
state spending as a share of GDP (32 percent in 2007) is low by international standards. There is
partial evidence for the repression hypothesis, since Russia does have above average levels of
military spending, but Fish did not find this factor particularly decisive. (After all, Russias
bloated military long predates the discovery of oil.) Instead Fish traces the causal chain through
the impact of oil and gas on corruption and economic liberalization boosting the former and
distorting the latter. Fish concludes that there were insufficient funds to to play the role of the
Kuwaiti rulers, showering the people with services without taxing them. But [in Russia] there is
more than enough money to corrupt the state apparatus. (Fish 2005, 134)
However, Russia is different from other resource-cursed economies both in the
structure of its political economy and in the path it took to arrived where it is today. Russia in
2006 is more dependent on resource exports than was the Soviet Union of 1985, yet it is also
somewhat more democratic, even by Freedom House measures.
There are at least four ways in which the structure of Russias political economy diverges
from the resource curse model.
First, in contrast to other resource-dependent economies, Russias post-Soviet
privatization resulted in a pluralistic ownership structure in the oil industry. The oil ministry was
split into a dozen independent corporations, along the lines of regional oil fields or packages of
oil refineries. (Kryukov 2001, Kim 2003) In addition to these production companies, there were
hundreds of small independent companies created as middlemen for oil operations typically to
hide earnings from the tax authorities and creditors. This plurality of ownership is highly unusual
in an international perspective. Only the US and UK have significant competition among oil
producers and neither of those countries is resource-cursed. In all the other major producers
(even Norway), oil production is controlled by one or two state-owned companies.
8
This pluralization led to intense political bargaining in Russia, both vertically between
the federal center and regional bosses, and horizontally between rival companies. The federal
government had to bargain with regional oil barons, such as the presidents of Tatarstan and
Bashkortostan, who won tax exemptions in the bilateral treaties they negotiated with Yeltsin in
1994. Putin was able to claw back some of these concessions since 2000, but it was a slow and
gradual process, and the bosses themselves (Presidents Mintimer Shaimiev and Murtaza
Rakhimov) are still in power as of 2008.

6
Boix 2004, 85; see also Kim 2003, Ellman 2006. A country which was already a democracy when it
discovered hydrocarbons, such as Norway, does not count.
7
Halperin 2005, p. 19. The eight are Bhutan, China, Egypt, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Tunisia and
Vietnam.
8
Whereas in most countries it is the oil producers who build and own the pipelines, in Russia the state
retained control over the pipeline system, through the state-owned corporation Transneft, which handles 71
percent of Russias crude exports. 14 percent go by rail, 3 percent by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, and
the remainder by sea. EIA 2006
8
Horizontal bargaining refers to the fierce turf wars and take-over battles that erupted
among the Russian oil majors. These battles spilled over into regional politics, with each oil
company acquiring one or more regional bases, notably the provinces where their production
facilities were located. They also opened offices in regions which offered them tax shelters, such
as Sibneft descending on distant Chukotka, or Yukos channeling some of its earnings through oil-
free Mordova. These corporate battles culminated in the abortive merger of Sibneft and Yukos in
2003, and the subsequent state takeover of Yukos.

(Byanova and Litvinov 2003)
This pluralism in oil ownership did not extend to foreign companies. Russia introduced a
limited system of production sharing agreements (PSAs) in 1995, but only three of 21 mooted
projects were implemented before the regime was abolished in 2003.
9
The only major foreign
acquisition that took place was the merger of BP and TNK in 2003. Foreigners have been allowed
to take a minority stake in Russian oil companies, with Chevron acquiring 20 percent of Lukoil.
(Locatelli 2006)
A second distinctive feature is that Russia is equally endowed with both oil and natural
gas: it is the worlds no. 2 oil producer and no. 1 gas producer. Natural gas assets were kept
separate from oil, and were privatized into a single nationwide corporation, Gazprom.
10
(Stern
2005) Gazprom served as an important political resource for the state, domestically and
internationally, and balanced out the aggressive profit-driven maneuverings of the oil companies.
One example, from former presidential advisor Evgenny Yasin: Back in 1997 Yeltsin told the
federal government to cover regional backlogs in pension payments. Gazprom borrowed $1
billion for that purpose; otherwise Yeltsins order couldnt have been carried out. (Cited in
Dubnov 2006)
The gas market is quite distinct from the oil market, domestically and internationally. It is
less volatile, depending on expensive long-term investments in pipeline systems or liquefied
natural gas (LNG) facilities. While Russias domestic oil prices were liberalized by the mid-
1990s and rose close to world-market levels, the natural gas price remained heavily regulated.
(Currently domestic consumers pay about $40 per cubic meter, while Gazproms European
customers pay over $300.) Through the 1990s Western officials pressed Russia to break up
Gazprom, or at least allow private companies access to their pipelines, without success. IMF
pressure for reform evaporated when Russia repaid its $3.3 billion outstanding debts to that
organization ahead of schedule in February 2006. The European Union gave up its insistence on
the equalization of domestic and export natural gas prices in March 2006, in return for a Russian
pledge to ratify the 1997 Kyoto accord on climate change.
Third, Russias resource endowment is not limited to oil and gas. It has a massive metals
industry including iron and steel, non-ferrous metals such as copper and nickel, and precious
metals such as gold and diamonds. The metal barons developed multi-billion dollar industries
largely independent from the oil and gas companies. Their closest relations are with the coal
industry and with the electricity monopoly, RAO UES, because of their reliance on cheap fuel.
The metal barons mines and factories are located in specific territories, typically far from
Moscow, and they formed powerful alliances with local political leaders, providing another
counter-balance to the federal authorities in Moscow. (Fortescue 2007) Of the 33 Russians on
Forbes 2006 list of billionaires, only 12 are clearly identified as coming out of the oil and gas
sector, while 15 were based in the metals industry (often merged with coal interests). Among the
87 magnates on the 2008 list, 15 originated in oil and gas, versus 22 in banking, 20 in mining and
metals, 11 in real estate/construction, and 8 in retailing. The Russian economy is far from a

9
These are Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 led by ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell and the Kharyaga project
in Siberia, led by Frances Total. Exxon signed an agreement for Sakhalin 3 in 1993, but it lapsed and the
license has been revoked.
10
Independent gas producers account for 14 percent of Russias output, nearly doubling their production
2000-05, but they are not allowed to export. Moscow Times, 23 J une 2005.
9
competitive environment that would pass muster for Adam Smith or J oseph Schumpeter, but it is
a more complex and differentiated political economy that the resource curse label would
usually imply.
Fourth, there is Russias strong state tradition to consider. Putin was able to draw upon
Russias statist tradition to rebuild state power after 2000. He tapped into popular support for a
strong leader to win election as president in 2000 and 2004. And he marshaled the police powers
of the state to take down Russias richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and dismember his Yukos
corporation. Clearly, in that case national state power trumped international oil wealth. The
Russian curse of statism overlaps and supplants the resource curse, in complex and
unpredictable ways that may diverge from predictions based on the experiences of other
countries.

The Dutch and other diseases

Resource-dependent economies are prone to a variety of maladies: an over-valued exchange rate;
fluctuations in revenues that lead to excessive state spending; increased opportunities for
corruption due to the concentration of rents; and inefficiencies because of the prominent role of
state-controlled enterprises, leading to lower capital productivity and hence slower long-term
growth. Russia is certainly showing signs of many of these ailments. (J ones and Weinthal, 2001,
2006) On the other hand, the recovery since 1998 has been strong and sustained, and Russias
resource endowment and the state of the global energy market give no reason to imagine that it
must end any time soon.
Many economists worry that Russia is succumbing to the Dutch disease: an over-
valued exchange rate. The influx of oil and gas revenues has driven up the value of the ruble,
which has appreciated 80 percent in real terms since 1999. This makes Russian manufacturing
and farming uncompetitive unable to find export markets, and unable to compete with foreign
imports. This comes at a time when Russia is moving towards joining the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which will further limit its ability to defend domestic producers with tariff
and non-tariff barriers. The impact of the Dutch disease is not confined to the exchange rate. High
returns on investment in the energy sector drive up the cost of capital and lead to increased wages
for skilled workers, putting further pressure on domestic manufacturers in other sectors.
Specialists disagree over the proportion of Russias GDP that can be attributed to energy,
due in part to accounting practices that hide oil and gas receipts in other reporting categories.
(Tabata 2005) According to the official statistics agency Rosstat, energy accounts for 9 percent of
the Russian economy, while the World Bank put it at 25 percent. These are high figures, but not
as high as in Saudi Arabia or even Venezuela. Energy has clearly been driving the post-1998
economic recovery, accounting for about half of the growth in GDP.
11
(World Bank 2006) But
unlike most oil exporting countries, Russia has a developed manufacturing sector, so a high
proportion of its energy output is used domestically, especially in energy-intensive sectors such as
metals and chemicals. Only 56 percent of Russias crude oil, 34 percent of its natural gas, and 42
percent of refined oil products are exported. (Tabata 2005) The remainder is consumed
domestically. Manufacturing actually crept up from 17.0 percent of GDP in 2003 to 20.7 percent
in 2006, leading Troika Dialog to argue that the rather high percentage of the manufacturing
sector in GDP means that the Russian economy cannot yet be diagnosed as having the so-called
Dutch disease. (Troika 2008b, p. 15) This illustrates how the political economy of Russias
energy dependence is more complex than in the typical petrostate. There are more trade-offs to
be made than in other resource-dependent countries, involving a broader range of political and
economic actors.

11
Astafeva estimates that changes in the oil price alone accounted for an estimated 27 percent of the
growth over 1998-2007. Astafeva 2007, p. 38.
10
Exactly how does oil revenue affect growth? Higher oil prices per se have zero impact on
a countrys reported annual GDP growth rate.
12
GDP growth is a measure of the increase in
goods and services produced within a country in a given year. So if oil output is constant but the
price doubles in year B, the value of the GDP in year A would be adjusted ex post to reflect the
shift in the price of oil. For rising oil receipts to show up in reported GDP growth, they have to be
spent on domestically produced goods and services. This might occur through an increase in
government spending, if the state has captured some of the oil revenue in higher taxes.
Alternatively, oil and gas companies might invest more and hire more workers to maintain or
expand production. The higher earnings of workers, managers and owners in the oil sector could
be spent on consumer goods and services.
Services, transport and the public sector are all fairly immune to the Dutch disease, being
non-tradable. All three sectors are underdeveloped in Russia compared to more mature market
economies, leaving plenty of room for non-oil growth. According to the World Bank, as of 2006
services had grown to 56 percent of GDP, while manufacturing accounted for 19 percent and
agriculture had shrunk to 5 percent. (World Bank 2007) As Dutch disease would predict, growth
is concentrated in non-tradable sectors such as construction and retailing, which rose by 24
percent and 14 percent respectively in the first nine months of 2007. Manufacturing rose 10
percent in that period, concentrated in machinery for transport and power generation

Specific challenges arising from the Dutch disease

Sterilizing the surplus
Assuming that the Central Bank and Finance Ministry are competent enough to sterilize the
capital inflows, the Dutch disease should be manageable. It did not prove fatal to the Dutch, after
all. Russia has been following cautious fiscal and monetary policies since 2000. Its fiscal policy
has been closer to Norway than that of Nigeria or Venezuela. (Bousseni and Locatelli 2005)
Between 2000 and 2006 the overall terms of trade moved 100 percent in Russias favor. (World
Bank 2007) The price of Urals blend dipped from $27 per barrel in 2000 to $23 in 2001, then
rose to $34 in 2004 and $69 in 2007 (Troika, 2008b). Oil accounted for 33 percent of exports in
2006 and gas another 15 percent.
These beneficial external developments helped drive government receipts from $40
billion in 2000 to $153 billion in 2005, while spending increased from $34 billion to $130 billion.
The government has run a substantial fiscal surplus each year, and have not rushed into
unsustainable spending projects.
13
The federal budget ran a surplus of 4.1 percent of GDP in 2004
and 7.5 percent in 2005, with revenues at 23.6 percent and spending 16.2 percent. (World Bank
2006) In 2006 government revenue (regional and national combined) was 39 percent of GDP and
spending 28 percent, leaving a budget surplus of 11 percent. (World Bank 2007). The surplus
means that the government is able to improve public services, pay off its international debts, and
avoid financial crises.
In addition to the Central Bank buying up foreign exchange earnings, in 2004 the
government created a Stabilization Fund, into which are paid excess taxes from oil exports when
the price exceeds $20 a barrel (raised to $27 in 2006). The Stabfond went from $4 billion in 2004
to $50 billion in J anuary 2006 and $168 billion in J anuary 2008. In 2008 Russia switched from an
annual budget to planning three years out: the budget through 2010 assumes oil at $74 a barrel.
The consultancy group UralSib estimates that the country will begin eroding its surplus if the
price dips to $64. (Elder 2008)

12
I am grateful to Francisco Rodriguez for this point.
13
Spilimbergo estimates that without oil windfall revenues (ie. with oil at $20 a barrel), the budget would
have been in surplus in 2000-01, but sliding into deficit reaching 2.6 percent of GDP by 2005. Spilimbergo
2005, table 3.
11
Between the Central Bank and the Stabfond, Sosunov and Zamulin (2006, p. 9) estimate
that the government was sterilizing 16 percent of all export earnings 1998-2005. Also easing the
pressure was the oligarchs predilection for stashing their earnings in foreign accounts and
acquisitions. Capital exports were running at $20 billion a year in the late 1990s, rising to $42
billion in 2006, $81 billion in 2007, and $23 billion in the first quarter of 2008. On the other hand
the enthusiasm of Russian companies for borrowing abroad is increasing Russias exposure to a
possible future payments crisis. Private sector interest payments last year rose to $65 billion
half of the $132 billion trade balance while the external debt rose to $385 billion by J une 2007.
(Shishkin 2008, World Bank 2007) State-owned companies hold 30 percent of the $350 billion
corporate debts. (Dokuchaev 2008) Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin
said that external debt is a comfortable 33 percent of GDP by J anuary 2008, down from 50
percent a year earlier, and of that only 4 percent is state debt. (Itar Tass 30 J anuary 2008)
Despite a decade of appreciation, as of 2008 ruble is still only 72 percent of its PPP level,
roughly similar to Mexico, Brazil and South Korea although significantly ahead of China (20% of
PPP) or Ukraine (25%). (Troika 2008a, p. 61) The evidence for a Dutch disease impact on the
competitiveness of Russias non-energy sector, therefore, is far from clear-cut. The main concern
is focused on the domestic price level, and this is mainly because of its political rather than
economic salience.

Spending the surplus
The record of stabilization funds in other countries is mixed: their creation is no guarantee that
they will be immune to politically-motivated or corrupt spending.
14
From February 2008 the
Stabfond was split into two: the Reserve Fund held in secure foreign investments, such as US
treasury bonds) and the National Welfare Fund, which will take revenue once the Reserve Fund
reaches 10 percent of GDP and invest it inside the country. The question of how to spend the
surplus has led to some bickering among government ministers. The Finance Ministry argued that
it should be used to pay down Russias foreign debt, while the Health and Social Welfare
Ministry wanted it to plug the $3 billion deficit in the Pension Fund, and help regions compensate
citizens for the monetization of social benefits. The latter, implemented in J anuary 2005, involved
the elimination of some social benefits and the conversion of in-kind benefits to a cash payment.
(Zaiko 2005)
The finance ministry won the argument. Most of the revenue that was spent was used to
pay down the states foreign debts, which fell to $53 billion, 9 percent of GDP, as of J anuary
2008, down from a peak of $150 billion and 150 percent of GDP in 1998. (Rosstat) In 2005-06
for example Russia paid down the $45 billion owed to the Paris Club of official creditors, a move
that saved an estimated $12 billion in future interest payments. Four high profile national
projects in housing, education, health and agriculture were launched in 2005. But these were
modest schemes, costing less than $4 billion in 2006, just 3 percent of total spending. (Butrin
2005) Spending on the projects rose to $10 billion in 2007 and under an October 2007 plan was
the spending should increase to $40 billion (2.8 percent of GDP). The revised plan also created a
new Development Bank and the Nanotechnology Corporation. Meanwhile, spending on domestic
security went from $4 billion in 2000 to $39 billion in 2008. (Nemtsov and Milov 2008, p. 45)
One worrying development was the November 2007 arrest of Kudrins deputy Sergei Storchak,
who supervised the Stabfond, on vague corruption charges.

Inflationary anxiety.
The fact that despite its best efforts the government cannot bring inflation below 10 percent per
year, nor prevent the steady appreciation of the ruble against the dollar, signals that Dutch disease

14
Such funds have been created in Kuwait, Norway, Colombia, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Chad, Alaska and
Alberta. Birdsall and Subramanian 2004.
12
pressures do pose a continuing challenge. Despite the governments successes in capturing and
sterilizing oil and gas receipts, they have not been able to prevent the inflationary pressures
caused by the inflow of private capital.
For the first time in Putins presidency consumer price inflation rose in 2007, to 11.9
percent, against 9.0 percent in 2006. Producer prices rose even faster, at 17 percent, and the
money supply (M2) rose 28 percent. (World Bank 2007) Milk and bread prices rose by more than
20 percent, and anxiety over rising food prices led the government to introduce informal price
controls in October 2007, to last through March 2008 not coincidentally, the month of the
presidential elections. The government also cut import tariffs on dairy products from 15 to 5
percent, and increased the export tariff on wheat by 10 percent and barley by 30 percent. The
share of imports in food consumption increased to 37 percent in 2007, making Russia vulnerable
to the global increase in food prices. (Imports accounted for an even higher proportion 54
percent of non-food consumer purchases.) (Russian Economy 2007)
The second most sensitive price is that of housing utilities, which rose by an average of
33 percent a year between 2000 and 2007, climbing from 4.6 percent to 9 percent of average
household spending (Nemtsov and Milov, p. 50) The price of many assets not covered in the
consumer price index is also rising. The average price of a square meter of housing has risen from
21,000 rubles to 45,000 in past two years (Nemtsov and Milov, p. 47) Consumer price inflation
climbed to a 12.7 percent annual rate in February 2008. (Rosstat, News.ru 28 March 2008) Most
analysts agree that the governments target of 8.5 percent for 2008 is unrealistic. Still, against the
backdrop of global shock-waves emanating from the subprime mortgage crisis in the United
States, Deputy Prime Minister Kudrin could with some credibility talk about Russia as an island
of stability in April 2008. (Russian Business Monitor, 4 April 2008)

Inequality
One aspect of the resource curse which has reared its head in Russia is the tendency of resource-
dependent economies to see increased inequality, including spatial inequality. GDP per capita in
the regions is one third of that in the city of Moscow, and is still only one half when cost of living
differences are taken into account (that is, in terms of purchasing power parity). (Troika Dialog,
2008a) GDP ranges from $8,000 per head in the Southern Federal District to $28,000 in Moscow.
The city of Moscow, with 10 million inhabitants (7 percent of the population) accounts for 25
percent of Russias GDP in ruble terms, and 16 percent in PPP terms. The top fifth of households
in the capital have disposable income over $5,000 a month. Through the whole economy, Russia
experienced a lurch towards inequality in the early 1990s, and income distribution pattern has
changed little since then. The Gini coefficient (a standard measure of income inequality on a 1-
100 scale) went from 0.26 in 1991 to 0.41 in 1994, and stayed at around that level for the next
decade, rising slightly 0.41 in 2006. (www.gks.ru) In J anuary-September 2007, the top quintile
accounted for 47 % of all income, and the second quintile 23 percent, while the poorest fifth
received only 5 percent.
15
This inequality is keenly felt by Russian citizens. According to the
results of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, the vast majority of the sample felt that
they have become poorer relative to others. Only 19% of Russians think that the economic and
social changes of the last 15 years improved their life, while 49 percent think that transition
worsened their life. (Denisova 2007)

Long-run sustainability
Another concern about Russias oil dependency is its long run sustainability. Will demand persist
if the price of oil stays around $100 a barrel? And even at that price, does Russia have sufficient
reserves that can be extracted and brought to market at cost that make it a profitable enterprise?
Russia is confident that its role in world energy markets is secure. It provided 48 percent of the

15
Bank of Finland, BOFIT Weekly 2, 11 J anuary 2008, www.bof.fi.
13
increase in world oil supply 1998-2004 and has 72 billion barrels of proven reserves, 6.1 percent
of the world total. (Tompson and Ahrend 2006) Investment in the Russian oil industry was $12
billion in 2004, 70 percent up on 1998, which is roughly comparable to the $65 billion invested
globally by the Big Five oil majors in that year. Investment in resource extraction accounted for
30 percent of total investment in the Russian economy in 2006 and refining another 27 percent.
(World Bank, 2006).
Over the past decade each spike in world oil prices has led to a surge in new drilling, with
a 3-6 month time lag, as companies drill in the marginal, high cost corners of existing fields. So
output has been rising in response to the higher price level, at 8-11 percent a year 1999-2004 and
6-7 percent thereafter. Meanwhile cash-rich energy companies have attractive price-earnings
ratios and suck in foreign portfolio investors. However, it is true that the newly accessed fields
are increasingly expensive, while the general rising price level (including sharply increased costs
for steel and other inputs) cause some to Russias capacity to expand production. Troika Dialog
estimates that The break-even oil price (the price at which the budget remains balanced) will
next year jump up to $58.59/bbl (in stark contrast to 2001-03 when it was well below $20/bbl).
(Troika 2008b, p. 5) In the next two years Russian oil production is expected to rise by 2.6
percent per year the rate of increase in 2007. (FSU states 2007)

The politics of subsidies
Some of the rents from energy exports are used to keep other domestic sectors afloat. The main
vehicle for cross-subsidization is the maintenance of artificially low prices for domestic
consumers of gas and electricity. (Refined oil products have generally been allowed to rise to near
world-market levels). Under pressure from the government, Gazprom uses export revenues to
subsidize domestic consumers, creating a mini-planned economy based on cheap energy. The
biggest beneficiaries have been the energy intensive metals producers who have enjoyed an
export boom thanks to electricity prices which are one quarter of those in Europe. Gazprom is
allowed to charge just $60 to domestic industrial customers and $50 for households, while export
prices by March 2008 were reaching $370.
16
The governments plans since 2000 for a gradual
increase in domestic prices have been outstripped by booming global oil and gas prices.
The electricity generating and transmitting monopoly, United Energy System (RAO
UES), has been one of the main casualties of this policy. The Federal Energy Commission has
held the annual rise in electricity prices well below the rate of domestic inflation since the late
1990s. UES claims that the selling price is below the cost of production, and it is certainly below
the level needed to replace out-dated generating plants. UES has to pay close to market prices for
many of its inputs (fuel oil, coal, rail transport) but faces strict price controls over its sales to
industrial and domestic consumers. Unlike Gazprom, UES does not have many export earnings of
its own, and it bears the main burden of the scissors between domestic and export energy prices.
Political pressure prevents UES from cutting off electricity to large categories of non-payers such
as communal housing services and military installations.
Efforts to raise electricity prices in 2004-05 produced street demonstrations and protests
from regional and municipal leaders. Even some parliamentary members of the pro-government
United Russia party, sensing their political vulnerability, started to denounce the reforms. Full
price liberalization was postponed until the completion of the five-year plan to reform the sector,
unveiled in 2000 by UES head Anatolii Chubais. That plan has proceeded slowly, with Chubais
brokering complex bargaining between regional governors, local industrialists, and UES
shareholders. But the privatization cannot really proceed until prices have been increased, since
investors do not want to buy loss-making regional utilities. After Putin brought in Mikhail
Fradkov to replace Mikhail Kasyanov as Prime Minister in February 2004, the pace of

16
Putin meeting with Gazprom Board Chairman Aleksei Miller, 14 March 2008, www.kremlin.ru;
http://eng.gazpromquestions.ru/index.php?id=5
14
liberalization slowed even more. In April 2004 Fradkov declared that the government would not
allow any private oil pipelines to be built, and in J une 2004 he announced a six-month freeze in
the ongoing privatization of UES. Since then privatization of the regional utilities has resumed.
This situation has left the energy sector facing some perverse incentives. Energy
companies have incentives to expand the export infrastructure (and they are doing so), but not to
expand domestic production. It is easier for them to divert supplies from domestic to foreign
buyers than to expand output. And the persisting uncertainty over the future division of rents
gives them less incentive to expand the size of the rents in the immediate term.

Conclusion

Putin himself told a State Council meeting on 8 February 2008 that we have still not yet
succeeded in breaking away from the inertia of development based on energy resources and
commodities. [] The state system today is weighed down by bureaucracy and corruption and
does not have the motivation for positive change.
17
But the resource curse is not a law of nature.
Well-designed state policies can mitigate its most damaging effects. Its still an open question
whether Putins state corporatism may succeed in avoiding the dire consequences for Russia that
the resource curse model predicts.
Critics of the Putin strategy propose an economic development model whose chances for
success are just as hypothetical as the governments strategy. Throwing open Russias oil and gas
industry to majority-stake foreign investors would probably lead to a surge in investment that
would boost their earnings and lower global oil prices. But would it benefit Russian workers and
consumers, or lead to lower levels of corruption? Neighboring Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have
pursued such a path, but are hardly models of democratic accountability. And in any case, the
Russian government has rejected such a development model and seems determined to stick with
its chosen strategy.



17
www.kremlin.ru
15
APPENDIX

Table 1 Basic economic indicators
(percent annual change, unless otherwise indicated)

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Real GDP growth -5.3 6.3 10.0 5.1 4.7 7.3 7.2 6.4 6.7 7.3
Investment growth -12.4 6.3 18.1 10.2 2.8 13.9 11.3 10.5 12.6 21.2
Unemployment 13.2 12.4 9.9 8.8 8.5 7.8 7.9 7.5 7.1 6.3
Inflation (CPI) 85 37 20 19 15 12 12 11 9 11
Average real wages -10 -22 18 20 16 11 11 13 13 16
M2 growth 21 58 62 40 32 51 36 39 49 48
Budget surplus/deficit -5.3 -0.5 3.5 3.0 1.4 1.7 4.5 8.1 8.5 5.5
(as percent of GDP)
Urals oil price ($/barrel) 12 17 27 23 24 27 34 50 61 69

Source: OECD, Economic Survey of the Russian Federation, November 2006; Economic
Outlook no. 82, December 2007, World Bank, M2 from www.cbr.ru; oil from Troika Dialog.

Table 2 Trade performance ($ billions)

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Exports of goods 75 76 105 101 107 134 182 241
Imports of goods 58 40 45 42 46 57 76 99
Trade balance 17 36 60 58 61 76 106 143
Foreign exchange reserves 12 13 28 37 48 77 125 182
Exchange rate (ruble/$) 10 25 28 29 31 31 29 28
Capital exports 22 21 25 15 8 2 9 0

Source: OECD, Economic Survey of the Russian Federation, November 2006; Economic
Outlook, 82, December 2007; capital exports from Central Bank, www.cbr.ru, 30 March 2008

16
Table 3 Foreign trade partners ($ billions)

Exports 1995 2000 2003 2006

Total * 82 105 136 305

Netherlands 3.2 4.4 8.7 35.9
Italy 3.4 7.3 8.5 25.1
Germany 6.2 9.2 10.4 24.5
China 3.8 5.3 8.3 15.8
Ukraine 7.1 5.0 7.6 15.0
Turkey 1.6 3.1 4.8 14.4
Belarus 3.0 5.6 7.6 13.1
Switzerland 3.5 3.9 5.8 12.1
Poland 1.7 4.5 4.6 11.5
Kazakhstan 2.6 2.8 3.3 9.0
USA 4.3 4.6 4.2 8.9

Imports 1995 2000 2003 2006

Total 63 45 76 164

Germany 6.5 3.9 8.1 18.4
China 0.9 0.9 3.3 12.9
Ukraine 6.6 3.7 4.4 9.2
J apan 0.8 0.6 1.9 7.8
Belarus 2.2 3.7 4.9 6.9
Korea 0.5 0.4 1.3 6.8
USA 2.6 2.7 3.0 6.4
France 1.1 1.2 2.4 5.9
Italy 1.9 1.2 2.4 5.7
Finland 2.0 1.0 1.9 4.0
Kazakhstan 2.7 2.2 2.5 3.8

Source: http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/2007/b07_12/25-05.htm
* both far abroad and CIS.
17
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