President Medvedev’s speech to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum just over a week ago clearly ruffled a few bureaucratic feathers. Contrary to what some people seem to think, he is not just making pretty speeches.
One paper prepared for Group 12 says that there is a “critical level of economic differentiation between the regions”, and suggests that there are no easy ways of overcoming this. The “All-Russian Council of Local Self-Government” has prepared its own paper, but again there are no easy answers to this sector’s financial dependency on higher levels of government.
Jeff says that ….
At the recent St. Petersburg Economic Forum, President Medvedev suggested that the proposed “International Financial Center” might be housed outside Moscow – or, at least outside the present boundaries of Moscow because there is also a proposal to expand the city limits.
According to one report, “Medvedev ordered Russian authorities to consider taking the prospective International Financial Center out of Moscow. The initiative comes from the head of the Russian Sberbank, German Gref, who said that the measure would solve a number of infrastructural issues in the Russian capital.”
Would such a move be sensible?
Group 18 started with some general reports on regulation of “natural monopolies” and then moved on to some specific reports on railways, electricity distribution, and gas.
Jeff says that ….
This Group has been discussing a general approach to formulating a new model of economic growth, taking into account the realities of the basic Russian economic structure and “current imbalances and long-term tendencies in the world economy”. A summary of an early joint report by a number of members of this Group can read here.
Jeff says that ….
Russia aims to become one of the world’s five largest economies within ten years, though it will admittedly be impossible to do so relying on a resource-oriented economy, prime minister Vladimir Putin stated on 26 May. “We have set an ambitious goal, that in ten years Russia should become one of the five largest economies in the world,” Putin said, speaking at the first social business forum in Moscow. “And the GDP should rise from the current level of 19,700 dollars to 35,000 dollars per capita.” He specifically pointed out that such figures will be impossible to achieve relying on “past sources of growth-exploiting the resource-oriented economic model.”
Jeff says that ….
So far the only document for Group 6 is from the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy. The document is divided into four sections with recommendations for each of the sections. These are: taxation of natural resources sector to become based on world prices for such resources; increased progressiveness of taxation of income and property; improving the structural composition of the tax system and the share of tax on consumption; better tax policy (in areas such as concessions) and tax administration.
Jeff says that ….
(Jeff says that this article by Vladimir Terletsky in “RusBusinessNews” is worth reading. It is not produced by Group 1, but is relevant to its work.) The article begins:
Russia is standing on the threshold of adopting a new strategy of national development that is presently being prepared. Some guidelines of the future economic policy were brought to light at the 8th International Research and Practice Conference that took place in Ekaterinburg. Regional experts lambasted the project, stating that society is not ready for social reforms. The “RusBusinessNews” columnist also had the impression that the authors of the strategy were very unhinged from real life in the Russian hinterland.
The leaders of Group 5 gave a Power-Point presentation to a joint-meeting of the leaders of all groups on 26 May. The presentation was basically divided as follows: challenges and constraints; imperatives, aims and tasks of innovation policy; scope of innovation policy (including formation of favorable institutional environment); “cross-roads” (including possible ways forward for Russia, model innovation policies, sectoral priorities and models, and functional priorities); package of measures for adjustment to a more innovative Russia (including increasing demand for and “supply of” innovation, science reform, developing innovation infrastructure, intellectual property, overcoming shortage of personnel, involving society in innovation).
Jeff says that ….
Group 2 says it will focus on analyzing external economic conditions, as well as the budget (planned general parameters of budget, expenditures, and government debt) and monetary and credit policy. Questions of taxation policy, development of institutions and business-climate will be left to other Groups. This Group has so far produced only one document, so I will take it as reflecting the thinking of the whole group.
Jeff says that ….