Jim O’Neill, of Goldman Sachs and coiner of the BRIC acronym, struck a positive note on Russia at a recent conference in London, saying: “There are some good faces in the new cabinet. Arkady Dvorkovich is a natural reformer.”
Once again, Jim has demonstrated his shallow knowledge of Russia (See also my posting of 3 December 2011 entitled “BRIC Jim O’Neill’s simplistic thick-brick thinking on Russia!” under “Expert Group 1: New model of economic growth. Securing macro-economic and social stability” in the right-hand column.)
Dvorkovich is little more than a “decorative” feature in the new cabinet.
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President Putin’s appointment of Igor Kholmanskikh, the head of a military tank assembly line, directly to the position of presidential plenipotentiary (representative) in the Urals district (one of 8 in Russia) is a small disaster for Russia at the PR level and a waste of an opportunity to pursue economic reform.
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The last weeks of Vladimir Putin’s time as prime minister have been filled with a flurry of meetings and statements which might suggest “economic reform” will begin to rapidly accelerate in the weeks after the May 7 presidential inauguration (and presumed return of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister).
But what is “economic reform”? Or more precisely, what is sensible economic reform? Is “strategic” economic reform always the best? And, how effectively will reform be implemented?
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