RIA Novosti, Russia
February 08, 2005
CIS COUNTRIES OUTPACE RUSSIA IN GDP GROWTH
MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti)-According to the information
published yesterday by the CIS Inter-State Statistics Committee,
Russia has fallen behind almost every other CIS country in terms of
GDP growth rates, writes Noviye Izvestia.
The leader in GDP growth rates in 2004 was Ukraine with 12%, followed
by Belarus (11%), Tajikistan (10.6%), Azerbaijan (10.2%) and Armenia
(10.1%).
Lower increases were registered in Kazakhstan (9.4%), Georgia (8.4%)
and Moldova (7.3%). Russia’s GDP growth rates, after they were
reconsidered, came in at 7.1% – the same as Kyrgyzstan. The
Statistics Committee has no information on GDP in Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan, which means Russia and Kyrgyzstan are last on the list.
Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Sharonov requested that a
comparison not be drawn between Russia and economic development
outsiders. He also noted that the mission to double GDP did not yet
mean that life had become better.
Vasily Solodkov, the director of the Banking Institute at the Higher
School of Economics, recalled that the CIS countries, with the
exception of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, were not oil and gas export
addicts. “This means that they had to conduct reforms somehow to
overcome a crisis,” he explained. The second reason is that “the
level of monopolization is enormous [in Russia]” – three or four
monopolies account for 80% of the country’s GDP. The raw material
monopolies do not need to develop, which admittedly puts the brakes
on Russia’s potential growth.
Experts admit that the country’s growth potential is no less than in
the former USSR republics, but it is considerably diminished by
Russia’s current economic policy.
Analysts warn that it is highly probable that the neighbors will
increasingly outstrip Russia in terms of development rates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress