Results of business surveys conducted on a regular basis by the Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET) show that the absolute level of competition remains low in Russian industry as a whole. Some enterprises face no competition on their markets. On markets where it exists, the strongest competition is provided by other Russian companies, while competition from foreign producers is much less strong. A quarter of surveyed companies were unable to provide appraisal of the level of competition with imports, and only a half reported with certainty that they were exposed to such competition.
{"title":"Competition Remains Moderate on Russian Markets","authors":"S. Tsukhlo","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00179","url":null,"abstract":"Results of business surveys conducted on a regular basis by the Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET) show that the absolute level of competition remains low in Russian industry as a whole. Some enterprises face no competition on their markets. On markets where it exists, the strongest competition is provided by other Russian companies, while competition from foreign producers is much less strong. A quarter of surveyed companies were unable to provide appraisal of the level of competition with imports, and only a half reported with certainty that they were exposed to such competition.","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"40 9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125910800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Russian crisis brought a collapse of demand and, as expected, a negative impact on imports to Russia. The effect was felt mainly by the former Soviet republics, which experienced declining terms of trade with Russia. At the same time Russian exports to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) fell, as Russian enterprises became less willing to accept barter deals, which had been common practice in trade with the CIS. The Russian crisis, like the Asian crisis, became contagious. This paper examines the effect of the Russian crisis on the ‘near abroad’, as the ex-Soviet republics are called in Russia (we do not consider the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which did not come into the post-Soviet CIS).
{"title":"The Domino Effect of the Russian Crisis","authors":"P. Westin","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00083","url":null,"abstract":"The Russian crisis brought a collapse of demand and, as expected, a negative impact on imports to Russia. The effect was felt mainly by the former Soviet republics, which experienced declining terms of trade with Russia. At the same time Russian exports to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) fell, as Russian enterprises became less willing to accept barter deals, which had been common practice in trade with the CIS. The Russian crisis, like the Asian crisis, became contagious. This paper examines the effect of the Russian crisis on the ‘near abroad’, as the ex-Soviet republics are called in Russia (we do not consider the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which did not come into the post-Soviet CIS).","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132224194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the reduction in arrears and barter observed after the rouble devaluation of the August 1998 crisis the phenomenon of non-payments in Russia is yet to be addressed. Non-payments of all forms remain especially severe in transactions involving the energy sector, defined as an aggregation of the electricity and natural gas industries. The high concentration of overdue receivables and non-monetary forms of settlement in the energy sector provides evidence that power and gas industries subsidise a large share of the economy, including industrial and social consumers. Social and political costs of the closure of large nonviable industrial enterprises unable to pay their operational costs force the governments of all levels to prevent their disconnection from the energy supplies. The authorities effectively encourage EUS and Gazprom to tolerate ‘strategic’ customers's arrears by turning a blind eye to natural monopolies tax obligations. On the other hand, the persistent failure of the federal and regional authorities to comply with the budget laws have prompted the budget-funded organisation to run arrears to the energy suppliers, which, in turn, led to numerous tax offsets involving the electricity and gas companies. In addition to the government's policies there are structural factors specific to the energy sector. Imperfections of the delivery network allow the rent-seeking electricity resellers and regional utilities managers to use nontransparent barter chains. This and the lack of supervision by UES enable them to put up with non-payments by the customeres and divert funds from the power generators. Consolidation of control over UES subsidiaries accompanied by the active debt settlement policy and modernisation of the delivery network are the structural measures that required to reduce the scale of non-payments in the energy sector.
{"title":"Non-Payments in the Energy Sector","authors":"N. Ivanova, G. Pavlov","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00098","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the reduction in arrears and barter observed after the rouble devaluation of the August 1998 crisis the phenomenon of non-payments in Russia is yet to be addressed. Non-payments of all forms remain especially severe in transactions involving the energy sector, defined as an aggregation of the electricity and natural gas industries. The high concentration of overdue receivables and non-monetary forms of settlement in the energy sector provides evidence that power and gas industries subsidise a large share of the economy, including industrial and social consumers. Social and political costs of the closure of large nonviable industrial enterprises unable to pay their operational costs force the governments of all levels to prevent their disconnection from the energy supplies. The authorities effectively encourage EUS and Gazprom to tolerate ‘strategic’ customers's arrears by turning a blind eye to natural monopolies tax obligations. On the other hand, the persistent failure of the federal and regional authorities to comply with the budget laws have prompted the budget-funded organisation to run arrears to the energy suppliers, which, in turn, led to numerous tax offsets involving the electricity and gas companies. \u0000 \u0000 \u0000 \u0000In addition to the government's policies there are structural factors specific to the energy sector. Imperfections of the delivery network allow the rent-seeking electricity resellers and regional utilities managers to use nontransparent barter chains. This and the lack of supervision by UES enable them to put up with non-payments by the customeres and divert funds from the power generators. Consolidation of control over UES subsidiaries accompanied by the active debt settlement policy and modernisation of the delivery network are the structural measures that required to reduce the scale of non-payments in the energy sector.","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114743502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bankruptcy laws aim to protect creditors, introduce pressure on managers for financial discipline and restructuring and free assets from inefficient use. Effectiveness of Russian Bankruptcy law is undermined by the political capture of arbitration courts by the regional authorities. Governors in alliance with managers of large regional enterprises use bankruptcy procedure as a mechanism for expropriation of the federal government and outside investors. Recent amendments to the Bankruptcy law, formally motivated by the apparent inefficiencies of current bankruptcy practice, fail to improve creditors protection, while they provide additional power to incumbent managers and governmental agencies.
{"title":"Bankruptcy in Russia: Away From Creditor Protection and Restructuring","authors":"Constantin Sonin, E. Zhuravskaya","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00096","url":null,"abstract":"Bankruptcy laws aim to protect creditors, introduce pressure on managers for financial discipline and restructuring and free assets from inefficient use. Effectiveness of Russian Bankruptcy law is undermined by the political capture of arbitration courts by the regional authorities. Governors in alliance with managers of large regional enterprises use bankruptcy procedure as a mechanism for expropriation of the federal government and outside investors. Recent amendments to the Bankruptcy law, formally motivated by the apparent inefficiencies of current bankruptcy practice, fail to improve creditors protection, while they provide additional power to incumbent managers and governmental agencies.","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124710577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Costs of Debt Conversion: Russia and Mexico Compared","authors":"Charles Wyplosz, K. Yudaeva","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00023","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127293502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Following the tragic events of September 11 in the US, and the very cooperative response of President Putin, there is a clear window of opportunity for Russia to become more closely and more rapidly integrated with major OECD economies. This means in particular a real possibility to proceed much more quickly than anticipated with accession to the WTO and into some kind of specific trade agreement with the European Union. This also means a willingness from the West to be more open than in the past on such issues as management of Russia's Paris Club debt. Against this background, there is a renewed interest in conversion of debt into investment, which would significantly help Russia to foster foreign direct investment at a time when the country must greatly increase its competitiveness.
{"title":"Debt Conversion Programmes and Investment — Applying the Latin American Experience to Russia","authors":"C. Cordonnier","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00196","url":null,"abstract":"Following the tragic events of September 11 in the US, and the very cooperative response of President Putin, there is a clear window of opportunity for Russia to become more closely and more rapidly integrated with major OECD economies. This means in particular a real possibility to proceed much more quickly than anticipated with accession to the WTO and into some kind of specific trade agreement with the European Union. This also means a willingness from the West to be more open than in the past on such issues as management of Russia's Paris Club debt. Against this background, there is a renewed interest in conversion of debt into investment, which would significantly help Russia to foster foreign direct investment at a time when the country must greatly increase its competitiveness.","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130212138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
By the middle of the 1990s', the Russian pension system was suffering from an accumulation of arrears in payment of all pensions and benefits. The arrears damaged the welfare of a large segment of the population, leading to an increase in poverty and inequality, and also negatively impacted the health of recipients of pensions and benefits. 1 The problem of pension arrears seemed to be solved by the end of 1997. However, in 1998 the payment delays started again. The danger of a new round of pension arrears accumulation is still real, since the causes of the problem remain unsolved. The main point of this article is to analyse the overall reasons, which led to heavy arrears, and to review the situation across Russian regions regarding accumulation dynamics, the causes for accumulation, and measures implemented to resolve the situation. The article will conclude by considering how the lessons of the arrears crisis might be usedto structure a reform of the pension system.
{"title":"Pension Arrears in Russia: The Story Behind the Figures","authors":"E. Romanova","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00079","url":null,"abstract":"By the middle of the 1990s', the Russian pension system was suffering from an accumulation of arrears in payment of all pensions and benefits. The arrears damaged the welfare of a large segment of the population, leading to an increase in poverty and inequality, and also negatively impacted the health of recipients of pensions and benefits. 1 The problem of pension arrears seemed to be solved by the end of 1997. However, in 1998 the payment delays started again. The danger of a new round of pension arrears accumulation is still real, since the causes of the problem remain unsolved. The main point of this article is to analyse the overall reasons, which led to heavy arrears, and to review the situation across Russian regions regarding accumulation dynamics, the causes for accumulation, and measures implemented to resolve the situation. The article will conclude by considering how the lessons of the arrears crisis might be usedto structure a reform of the pension system.","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"81 3-4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114046035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strategies of Russian Workers in Adapting to Market Reforms","authors":"D. Popova","doi":"10.1111/1467-9426.00202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9426.00202","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":383400,"journal":{"name":"Russian Economic Trends","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121870376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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