Russian Economy General News: #10

The article ignored the investment fund where it has increased. It also forgets it's budget revenue increase as well.

Big_Gazza wrote:

owais.usmani wrote:

Counter article from same site:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Putins-40-Oil-Lie.html

Meh... Some triggered Atlantacist fuktard gets upset about the truth so scribbles a little diatribe to make himself and his fellow travellers feel better....

Indeed. Russians always lie according to NATO supremacist liars.

OK, so the article itself isn't actually that bad. (The headline is very clickbaity and even misleading, though.)

What was noticeable to me, is that he and this other guy he linked don't actually suffer from Putin derangement syndrome, and the articles aren't really anti-Russian: https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-Bearish-Threat-Within-OPEC.html

Now it's probably (and obviously) true that $40 per barrel isn't enough to increase reserves considerably. The author also doesn't deny that Russia could survive in that environment.

My vibe is that he is probably a little too pessimistic, and that is his biggest "sin". This is (these are) NOT your standard anti-Russian/Putin hit piece(s).

But it's unlikely oil prices will collapse like that for a long period of time anyway, and the author in fact agrees.

The other guy thinks that even $60 per barrel isn't enough for Pax Russia, whatever that means. He seems to think that the Syria intervention and power projection expenses in general are a major drag on the Russian economy. Which I think is obviously BS, not true. And that's clearly a huge problem for their argument/narrative, but that's it.

EDIT: And of course the fact, as miketheterrible pointed out, that the reserve fund has increased considerably and the federal budget surplus was almost 3% of GDP last year. Yeah, that should've really been mentioned...

Gold and curreny reserves grew to more then 500 Bill. this week.

Who cares about the reserve fund? With 40$ a barrel Russia can pay all its expenses which is much more than any western nation can say.

Hole wrote:Gold and curreny reserves grew to more then 500 Bill. this week.

Who cares about the reserve fund? With 40$ a barrel Russia can pay all its expenses which is much more than any western nation can say.

Russia has top of the class stable finances. It is only NATO propaganda-induced perceptions that result in lemmings all over the
world thinking about "wooden rubles" and "banana economy" weakness. Russia does not need to import anything. So even if the
ruble fell to zero to the dollar, Russia would just substitute the last few imports it has or barter trade them from other sources.
No EU member state can do this. America can do it in principle but with super depression transition pain.

All of the credit ratings for Russia should be AAA+++. Instead you have nonsense claims of as low as BBB- which is lower than
real banana republics with massive foreign debt. Supposedly Mexico is a lower credit risk than Russia. WTF? Mexico cannot
even cover its debt through exports. Columbia is also supposed to be ahead of Russia. That's just crack smoke nonsense. Both
Mexico and Columbia have over 50% debt to GDP ratios compared to Russia which has less than 12%.

(Note that the total government and private debt is not even considered for countries other than Russia).

PS. It is ironic that this infantile anti-Russia BS from NATO is actually helping Russia by making foreign borrowing costs higher.
So Russia ends up having less foreign debt which makes it more immune to instability and blackmail. The self-snookering by
NATO is delicious.

"Surprise! Biggest investor in the Russian economy is… the United States."


https://www.rt.com/business/461859-us-biggest-investor-russia/

par far wrote:"Surprise! Biggest investor in the Russian economy is… the United States."


https://www.rt.com/business/461859-us-biggest-investor-russia/

Somewhere i read ,Before world war 2 began.. the trade between Britain and Germany of Hitler was all time high..  Business Trade is a form of influence.. and when 2 nations are on the brink of war  , the aggressor country will have reasons to do more business but still limited with their adversaries ,  in order to mislead their adversaries ,into thinking there is hope for improvement of relations.. But at the macro international level , US will continue targeting Russia economy , Nord Stream 2 ,and opening new wars ,that Russia will be forced to participate..as it did in Syria...  Transnistria vs Moldova is one.. Serbia vs Kosovo another.. Colombia and brasil vs venezuela.. Nicaragua etc..

And example of this limited business trade influence deceiving tactics...
Will be US buying more rockets for space than ever from Russia or they creating
more jobs in Russia with a new Wallmart.  But at the same time , US pushing Europe ,with
major blackmail so they abandon the Nord stream 2 .

So a new Wallmart in Russia could generate how much to Russian economy ? 300 new jobs?
and a new FORD manufacturing plant another 3,000 jobs..   still thats far below the jobs and the income  that Nord Stream 2 will make , for Russia.. and US continues pushing Europe away also of all Russian energy market.. which combined should be worth of $1 Trillion dollars.. per year on Russia economy.. and many millions of jobs.. So don't be fooled
By US olive tree of peace.. this are tactics to deceive their adversaries ,to think there is hope for them for peace...  I think US is concerned Russia military could reach the conclusion ,in the new future that a nuclear war with US can't be avoided.. and so all this
small economic investments.. in my opinion are just a smoke wall ,to make Putin believe
there is a hope to restore relations with US.. and so to keep Putin's promoting weak policies.. of politeness and bullshit..


and this is a big Mistake .. extreme politeness is weakness and Will never achieve peace.. it only invites of the stronger ones to abuse the other side even more.

Here in this conference recently everyone already notices , Putin shameful politeness.
and asked him why he is so polite.. when others are so rude against Russia..




Putin answer shows he was caught of guard ,and that he is disconnect with reality ,in personal relations.. Never being over Polite , in front of Rude people will earn you respect.. Politeness is weakness ,people afraid
of showing their anger the other side will become Rude.. over Politeness ,like Putin shows all the time , is a form of insecurity ,weak people over their own power and capabilities.
and is a big mistake to think politeness can control a hostile adversary and promote peace.. if that was the case ,long time ago Russia and US will be best friends ,after 20 years of Putin politeness.  Womens that are polite with Abusive rude partners..in domestic violence. gets killed over time .  Putin will get Russia nuked if that moron don't remove his stupid polite face.. and grow some balls ,some confidence.. and im afraid you can't change that in someone personality like Putin as that age.. and this is why Syria is cruise missile attacked with impunity ,because Putin politeness sends a wrong message to Americans that he is afraid to use force to defend their own soldiers.. that operates with Syrian army many times.   Putin told ,that he needs to be Polite ,because relations are bad with the west..  So in other words , he still believe he can influence the west with Politeness (weakness) when confronted by Rude nations...    

Putin also told that the harmony of ST Petersburg encourage him to be Polite..  

Don't i tell he is full of shit?.. he needs to take away all those insecurity and fears...

The only way Russia will earn respect.. is by being STRONG and having LEADERSHIP..  
This is the two magic words.. that are escaping Putin. n . He have allowed Americans Business for 2 decades to LEAD in the most important nation influential modern business and on top of that he is always polite ,even when his military base attacked and his soldiers killed..

Look at Putin IDIOTIC Ass-wisdom..  (that he is polite because...........)
When times are bad..The last thing that could help restore relations is to keep
doors Open.. (@being soft and polite ,is what he consider keep doors open.. ).


Putin's politeness with rude nations ,like US and ISRAEL is dangerous for Russia national security , it encourage the west to continue playing games against Russia ,proxy wars ,
and Russia interest being disrespected. Russia needs a strong leader to take it to a new level.. or at least a leader with Vision , of where to take the country next.. and not stay in the past..  Look at Chinese President.. he is not strong.. he is soft too like Putin..
But at least he have a major Vision ,of China world leadership.. this is what Russia is missing so much.. is ridiculous to think CHina have more influence than Putin's Russia in Latin America.. Thanks to the aggressive and Strong way China is pushing to compete
with American high tech most popular business.

anyway , is hard to judge Putin's policies in Syria and Ukraine.. After he really screwed there by not preventing those conflicts to start in the first place... he is doing the right things.. now but not after he screwed First and allowed the problems to start..A more smarter President will have not allowed Ukraine and Syrian conflcits to even happen.. at all.. By transforming Russia into a saudi arabia of asia.. and Russian economy dependent on OIL and GAS sales , one of the main reasons Ukraine and Syria conflicts started.. To block Russia energy business with Europe ,was one of the big goals of those 2 conflicts..
i will have privatized Russia energy business to Germany and france and live happy with one commission per extraction.. It will have allowed France and germany and all europe energy to come from Russia. and so they will have not allowed Ukraine conflict to ever start ,and France and Germany neither allowed US to bypass their pipeline with a new one in Syria.
and Syria will have been safer as a member of EU and colony of France. but by Russia creating an alliance with Syria was a death sentence for Syria.. a target to hit by US and israel..

Nice counter-examples to the bleaters who claim that Russia's GDP is 18 times smaller than that of the USA.

But it is a fact that the PPP adjustment underestimates Russia's GDP since it is skewed towards consumer goods which are
a blend of imports and local production with prices more similar to western ones. The PPP does not typically include the
MIC due to secrecy and the assumption that the MIC is a small part of the GDP. So Russia's MIC-associated GDP is not
$60 billion x 3 but more like $60 billion x 6. It also appears that the PPP does not do a good job adjusting for non-consumer
prices in the medical sector and other activity in Russia which is not based on saturated pricing like in the USA (e.g. $142,000
fee for a snake bite).

The example of the non-functional US nuclear fuel reprocessing plant which as already consumed billions of dollars without
producing anything is important as well. Russia does not have the level of financial shenanigans (corruption) seen in the USA.
All of these do-nothing expenditures are counted as part of the GDP. Whereas in Russia when a company provides free social
services to remote communities, that counts for nothing. So the PPP correction is not even being applied to the same GDP
structure. That is, another structural correction factor is needed to have a proper apples to apples comparison of the GDP
of Russia and the USA. If Russia saturated its prices in every possible nook and cranny of the GDP, then it could fluff up to
twice its size if not more.

It is a mistake to think that saturated prices are equivalent to a physical substantial economic power. Printing dollars does not
make America great. It makes it a paper tiger.

Not exactly related to Russian economy but still worth a read:

https://www.dw.com/en/german-firms-slam-costly-us-sanctions-against-russia/a-49366955

German firms slam costly US sanctions against Russia

"Counterproductive" US sanctions against Russia have cost German companies billions of euros in lost business opportunities, the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (AHK) said Wednesday.

More than 140 firms that participated in a recent survey reported more than €1.1 billion ($1.25 billion) in losses since the sanctions came into effect five years ago, the group said.

"The total figure amounts to several billion euros when these numbers are projected onto the entire German economy and the more than 4,500 companies operating in Russia," AHK CEO Matthias Schepp added.
The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in early 2014. EU sanctions have by contrast had a relatively limited impact on German companies active in Russia, Schepp said.
AHK President Rainer Seele accused the United States of using the measures to pursue its own economic interests at the expense of Germany's "Mittelstand," a collective term for the country's famed small- and medium-sized firms.

"These sanctions are counterproductive, fail to serve their political purpose, drive a wedge between America and Europe and harm everyone in the long term," he said. The EU should, he added, get started with ending its own sanctions against Russia.

The bloc voted to continue the measures at a summit last week. Germany is one of the EU regime's staunchest supporters.
The AHK said 87% of its members wanted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to pursue better relations with Russia by attending more economic events in the country.

"Germany should not take the butter from the bread of its partners, no matter whether they are in sanctioned countries," Schepp said. "German policy can send a clear signal without violating the framework of the sanctions."
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier signed a pledge to improve economic ties with Russia at the country's largest economic summit in St. Petersburg earlier this month. He was the first senior German minister to take part in a conference since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Schepp said most AHK members were still doing good business in Russia, with "companies expecting sales and profits to increase" in the near future. Around 39% of companies want to invest more in Russia, he added.

Despite its support for EU sanctions, Germany has been criticized by the US and Ukraine for pursuing a gas pipeline deal known as Nord Stream 2 that would deliver Russian gas directly to northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.

The Ukrainian government says the project undermines EU sanctions because it would bypass Ukraine, which serves as a transit country for most of the Russian gas delivered to central Europe.

Jeffrey Gundlach Interview on Fox with Neil Cavuto Coast to Coast 6/12/19

Interview with Russian Finance Minister

“We proceed from our own interests”: Anton Siluanov - about trade wars and opposition to sanctions

https://russian.rt.com/business/article/645474-siluanov-torgovye-voiny-voiny-biznes

kvs wrote:

Russia has top of the class stable finances.  It is only NATO propaganda-induced perceptions that result in lemmings all over the
world thinking about "wooden rubles" and "banana economy" weakness.  Russia does not need to import anything.  So even if the
ruble fell to zero to the dollar, Russia would just substitute the last few imports it has or barter trade them from other sources.

I agree on propaganda but let me be advocatuis diavoli here:

1) Russia has yet a long way to produce most of things Russia needs (not that Russia cannot but it takes time and money for R&D + production) vide Roscomsos, Gazprom or OAK

2) Propaganda is working on some people - they always compare their income in $

3) most of Russian private companies are managed by Russians but from foreign jurisdictions (Michaelson, Tinkoff or even Volozh is citizen fo EU). Yes sanctions help with reversing this trend

4) still most of consumer goods are imported and unlikely will be made in Russia (un less localized by Koreans/Chinese/Japanese) - cars, computers, smaprtphones

5) last buy not least - many decision makers are lobbied bym foreign product vendors (like passenger airlines o or even electronics - look what Borisov said) this might be even worse in some cases they ar emantally not bale choose Russian product over importeg. This needs definitely govt help in forcing them



so yes there is impact of $/₽ but unlike atlanticists' Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda is is not critical and now balance (debt vs reserves) is postive so there is not possible to blackmail Russia form this direction. Id expect now more money will go more to economy.

RSHB will prepare a list of projects for concessional lending to dual-use products
Promsvyazbank will also take part in financial support of projects of the defense industrial complex organizations

https://tass.ru/ekonomika/6608977

Russia can make its on TVs, toaster ovens, stereo systems, personal computers, drill kits and 99% of consumer junk that gets made
in China today. Even if it imports these items, it is importing them from the Orient and not from NATO. And don't forget that
the US is totally dependent on these imports as well.

I am sure that Russia could barter trade with China to get all the consumer goods it needs even if NATO engineered a ruble collapse.
But the fact that NATO has no engineered a forex crisis for Russia means it cannot do it.

The view of Russian capitalists as all sitting in offshores is a caricature and not reality. If they were all so expose NATO would have
squeezed their balls a long time ago. It obviously can't. And it is quite likely that these offshored oligarchs are NATO assets to
start with. Putin already did a lot of house cleaning. He can clean the house some more if needed.

The propaganda shrikes from NATO are clear evidence that Russia is not under the influence of NATO. Serdyukov was the last
real example of NATO lobbying inside Russia. He has not been making decisions for a long time.

BTW, zero imports is not some ideal. Russia can live in this regime, but economics dictates that some local specialization is better.
Let China produce drill kits and blenders. Russia will not fail without such production.

One of the most important sectors where Russia should develop to the level of the best in the world is the machine tool industry, where the world leaders are Japan and Germany.

Btw, with respect with Germany...

https://www.intellinews.com/top-german-companies-plan-to-invest-395mn-into-russia-in-the-next-12-months-163502/?source=russia

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:One of the most important sectors where Russia should develop to the level of the best in the world is the machine tool industry, where the world leaders are Japan and Germany.

Btw, with respect with Germany...

https://www.intellinews.com/top-german-companies-plan-to-invest-395mn-into-russia-in-the-next-12-months-163502/?source=russia

Russia has been a world leader in machine tools for decades. It makes some of the most advanced metal powder printers today. These tools
are able to print rocket engine components. That should tell you all you need to know about their level. There have been numerous posts
on this subject on these theme in the technology threads.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/121161/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/120386/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/120195/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/120070/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119997/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/101362/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119755/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119548/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119333/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119304/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119182/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/119152/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/118940/

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/118788/

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

kvs wrote:

Russia has top of the class stable finances.  It is only NATO propaganda-induced perceptions that result in lemmings all over the
world thinking about "wooden rubles" and "banana economy" weakness.  Russia does not need to import anything.  So even if the
ruble fell to zero to the dollar, Russia would just substitute the last few imports it has or barter trade them from other sources.

I agree on propaganda but let me be advocatuis diavoli here:

1)  Russia has yet a long way to produce most of things Russia needs (not that Russia cannot but it takes time and money  for R&D + production) vide Roscomsos, Gazprom or OAK

2)  Propaganda is working on some people - they always compare their income in $

3)  most of Russian private companies are managed by Russians but from foreign jurisdictions (Michaelson, Tinkoff  or even Volozh is citizen fo EU). Yes sanctions help with reversing this trend      

4) still most of consumer goods are imported and unlikely will be made in Russia (un less localized by Koreans/Chinese/Japanese) - cars, computers, smaprtphones

5) last buy not least - many decision makers are lobbied bym foreign product vendors (like passenger airlines o or even electronics - look what Borisov said) this might be even worse in some cases they ar emantally not bale choose Russian product over importeg. This needs definitely govt help in forcing them



so yes there is impact of $/₽ but unlike atlanticists' Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda is is not critical and now balance (debt vs reserves) is postive so there is not possible to blackmail Russia form this direction.  Id expect now more money will go more to economy.

RSHB will prepare a list of projects for concessional lending to dual-use products
Promsvyazbank will also take part in financial support of projects of the defense industrial complex organizations

https://tass.ru/ekonomika/6608977

LG And Samsung TV's and monitors for example are made in Russia at facilities in Chechnya and such.

Russia makes a lot of appliances actually. But they did lose a warehouse full of fridges from a local company in a fire. But overall, they make majority of the basics. Even HP has a facility in Russia that makes their own printers, laptops and alike for Russian market using mostly Russian components minus the obvious big ones.

And yes, the only ones who compare their incomes in $ is obviously the liberal morons in Russia who have no idea how economics work (these are the same people who stole from Russia back in the 90's (Navalny and co) while their own people were suffering even if the Ruble was 10/1 USD). Those people are not liked in Russia anyway and lost more influence over the years than gain.

Compare $ or not to compare, life in Russia is not cheap. It's not Belarus.
I'm not even talking about Moscow, you might think Tsarism is back.

Every consimer good became more expensive, but it would be foolish to blame sanctions. It's a buzzword so consumer can be flogged, be it domestic or foreign good. There's little patriotism in retail.

I wonder does Russia have pricing commission that would investigate some practices. I am seeing same trend in UK where buzzword Sanctions is replaced by Brexit.

Regular wrote:Compare $ or not to compare, life in Russia is not cheap. It's not Belarus.
I'm not even talking about Moscow, you might think Tsarism is back.

Every consimer good became more expensive, but it would be foolish to blame sanctions. It's a buzzword so consumer can be flogged, be it domestic or foreign good. There's little patriotism in retail.

I wonder does Russia have pricing commission that would investigate some practices. I am seeing same trend in UK where buzzword Sanctions is replaced by Brexit.

Prices in Russia on average is cheaper than most places. Maybe not in Belarus but wages in Russia is higher than Belarus as well.

But you are right, it has nothing to do with sanctions. It has to do with general greed where people take advantage of the situation in order to get more money.

kvs wrote:
Russia has been a world leader in machine tools for decades.   It makes some of the most advanced metal powder printers today.   These tools
are able to print rocket engine components.   That should tell you all you need to know about their level.    There have been numerous posts
on this subject on these theme in the technology threads.

Russia has definitely great scientific and tech abilities and is definitely among leaders. Unfortunately as for tool machining (or any other industry) the factor money/brand recognition/ scalability factos are important. Here there are problems with internal demand (many western companies have their "fans" or lobbyists), sie of internal market and externally small companies have more problems with expansions due to sanctions or just costs. FANUC or KUKA can invest more then 10 peoples startup.

miketheterrible wrote:

LG And Samsung TV's and monitors for example are made in Russia at facilities in Chechnya and such.

Russia makes a lot of appliances actually.  But they did lose a warehouse full of fridges from a local company in a fire.  But overall, they make majority of the basics.  Even HP has a facility in Russia that makes their own printers, laptops and alike for Russian market using mostly Russian components minus the obvious big ones.

And yes, the only ones who compare their incomes in $ is obviously the liberal morons in Russia who have no idea how economics work (these are the same people who stole from Russia back in the 90's (Navalny and co) while their own people were suffering even if the Ruble was 10/1 USD).  Those people are not liked in Russia anyway and lost more influence over the years than gain.

True but brands are not Russian. Most money flows to owner not plant. R&D and ownership is what financially counts. Look at Apple. if they for any sanction's reaso woudl stop cooperating with Russia we got problems with displays, fridges, smartphones...

if they for any sanction's reaso woudl stop cooperating with Russia we got problems with displays, fridges, smartphones...

is it not possible for Russia to just obtain the technologies from these companies and set up their own brands using these tech? Russia is a manufacturing powerhouse, they have all the raw material resources and machine building capacity to build a wide variety of products. I am positive that if they actually make serious efforts they can make a couple of successful Russian brands in the world market. I think Russia just needs to improve the way they advertise/sell their products to consumers.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

LG And Samsung TV's and monitors for example are made in Russia at facilities in Chechnya and such.

Russia makes a lot of appliances actually.  But they did lose a warehouse full of fridges from a local company in a fire.  But overall, they make majority of the basics.  Even HP has a facility in Russia that makes their own printers, laptops and alike for Russian market using mostly Russian components minus the obvious big ones.

And yes, the only ones who compare their incomes in $ is obviously the liberal morons in Russia who have no idea how economics work (these are the same people who stole from Russia back in the 90's (Navalny and co) while their own people were suffering even if the Ruble was 10/1 USD).  Those people are not liked in Russia anyway and lost more influence over the years than gain.

True but brands are not Russian. Most money flows to owner not plant. R&D and ownership is what financially counts. Look at Apple. if they for any sanction's reaso woudl stop cooperating with Russia we got problems with displays, fridges, smartphones...

Displays are mostly Chinese these days, even if said Korean. Fridges? Don't make me laugh. Majority of fridges in Russia are Russian brand. Polis and the one that caught fire earlier this year.  At least those are the popular brands.

If they pull out, that doesn't matter, they just lose Russian market. Russian market being rather big, Chinese would be rubbing their greedy little hands knowing they can just replace Korean.

And as an FYI smartphone popular in Russia is apple (I know, makes me sick too), with Chinese brands and Russian knockoffs being second/third.

As for the fridges, I posted about this earlier.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

kvs wrote:
Russia has been a world leader in machine tools for decades.   It makes some of the most advanced metal powder printers today.   These tools
are able to print rocket engine components.   That should tell you all you need to know about their level.    There have been numerous posts
on this subject on these theme in the technology threads.

Russia has definitely great scientific and tech abilities and is definitely among leaders. Unfortunately as for tool machining (or any other industry) the factor money/brand recognition/ scalability factos are important. Here there are problems with internal demand (many western companies have their "fans" or lobbyists), sie of internal market and externally small companies have more problems with expansions due to sanctions or just costs. FANUC or KUKA can invest more then 10 peoples startup.

Your answer is a cliche that means basically nothing in 2019. If you were talking about the 1980s then there would be some merit. Things today are vastly different than in the 1980s. Technology is successfully commercialized in Russia.