By Polina Devitt
MOSCOW, April 30 (Reuters) – Reducing regulation is a key to stimulating Russia’s domestic growth after the recession, Novolipetsk Steel Chairman Vladimir Lisin said on Friday.
“In my opinion, the biggest problem is stimulating production growth,” Lisin, ranked Russia’s richest man by Forbes magazine, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “And how to stimulate (production) when business is regulated so tightly.”
– The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –
By Jason Bush
MOSCOW, April 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Hewlett-Packard is under investigation for paying bribes in Russia. It’s the latest sign that western regulators are paying close attention to Russian business practices. The resulting reputational and legal risk may now be the biggest worry for foreign companies in Russia.
German prosecutors suspect former HP managers of paying 8 million euros in kick-backs. Ironically, the payments concern a 35 million euro contract to supply Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office — the very body charged with fighting corruption.
MOSCOW, Dec 31 (Reuters) – Russia will step up its efforts to curb the influx of speculative capital, which can flee the country with the “first rain,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this week, adding the measures will be moderate.
“There will be no revolutions,” Putin said.
Nonetheless, his remarks pushed the rouble considerably down, as investors were easily spooked by hint the government might take steps soon.
The comments have intensified the talk on capital controls, which began earlier this autumn when a new wave of short-term capital entered the Russian forex market, driving the rouble rapidly up.
By Gleb Bryanski
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec 29 (Reuters) — Russia will moderately step up efforts to curb speculative capital, while gradually moving its economy to a free float rouble exchange regime, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
“We need to correct the rules so it is less interesting for speculative capital to come running into Russia,” Putin told reporters. “There will be no revolutions.”
The prime minister also said Russia’s commodity-dependent economy was not ready for a fully floating rouble exchange rate.
“As the economy diversifies, we will be transitioning to a free float, and this ought to be one of the measures that would remove supportive conditions for speculative capital,” he said.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to the port city of Vladivostok in Russia’s far east, Putin added the departure from a controlled exchange rate regime would be “mild”.
Officials have previously said they are considering “soft” measures to limit speculative inflows, with the Kremlin reiterating recently that there is no need for tougher moves like a Brazilian-style tax on capital inflows.
In September, Putin pledged to keep a “liberal regime” on capital flows, saying it was a key factor in spurring investment in Russia.
Russia lifted restrictions on capital flows in 2006, which resulted in massive inflows of “hot money” that inflated corporate debt to $450 billion in 2008, pushed the rouble sharply up and spiked inflation rates.
The economic crisis that hit Russia last year lead to capital flight of $130 billion in 2008 and the rouble shedding nearly a third of its value.
“We have existing problems, which are related to the fact that we have created good conditions for speculative capital inflows,” Putin said. “It flows in quite well, works here, but creates problems, because if crisis hits, it leaves quickly.”
An improving global economic outlook in recent months, combined with relatively strong oil prices have renewed interest among investors in the Russian rouble and other emerging markets currencies that are riskier but offer higher returns.
As a result, in the autumn the rouble regained nearly half of its value lost in last year’s crisis. The currency has moderated somewhat in recent weeks, but the autumnal rally prompted talk of re-introducing some form of capital controls.
After Brazil imposed its tax in October, Russia was considered the most vulnerable of the BRIC countries when it comes to foreign capital.
Putin said the task of the government is to attract funds, but not the ones that would run away with the “first rain”.
“We have to create supportive conditions for inflows of long-term foreign direct investment,” Putin said.
FDI into Russia was down 48 percent in the first nine months of the year, totalling only $10 billion, according to data from the Federal Statistics Service. (Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Writing by Lidia Kelly, editing by Mike Peacock)
((lidia.kelly@reuters.com; Tel: +7495 7751242))
By Anastasia Onegina, Toni Vorobyova and Lidia Kelly
MOSCOW, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Russia has spent more than half of the 15 trillion roubles ($480 billion) it has allocated to fight the economic crisis that hit the country a year ago, according to Reuters calculations based on Kremlin documents.
By Stephen Brown
ROME, July 7 (Reuters) – China, Russia and Brazil will use this week’s G8 summit in Italy to push their view that the world needs to think about a new global reserve currency as an alternative to the dollar, officials said on Tuesday. (more…)
