The Russian monetary unit/currency is a ruble. In the mid 19th century, the ruble was a silver bar but was changed to paper currency in 1919 during Soviet rule. The first silver paper ruble was shown in 1919 and it remains like that until today.
One Russian Ruble = 0.0349 U.S Dollars
Chief Exports:
The main/chief exports of Russia include MAINLY petroleum which is their biggest export, petroleum products, natural gas, woods, wood products, metals, and chemicals. These products are exported to these countries: European union, the former Soviet countries, China, and Japan.
These exports do play a role in our Russia's GDP because petroleum is pretty big around the world. The more petroleum that Russia exports, the more money will be brougth in and this will end causing a better life for Russians and will help make the economy grow.
Chief Imports:
The main/chief imports of Russia include machinery & equipment, chemicals, consumer goods, medicine, sugar, and last but definitely not least, semi-finished metal products. Russia sends its imports from the countries that Russia exports too. These imports are also pretty important because they give Russia much needed goods and needs that are not available to them. This would help increase the standard of living by giving Russian citizens materials that they need such as machinery, equipment and medicine.
Gross Domestic Product:
$1.12 trillion (2000 est.) in U.S Dollars
Balance of Trade:
Exports: $105.1 billion (2000 est.) in US Dollars
Imports: $44.2 billion (2000 est.) in US Dollars
A problem for the Russians is that they pay more for exports than imports. Since Russia does not make enough imports they have to pay over $60 billion for exports than they sell their imports for. This causes a giant problem because Russia is losing a great amount of money from this and this would cause to a negative negative growth.
Russian Overview (Location and Size, Population):
Russia is located in Northern Europe/Asia and is bordered my Mongolia, China, Sweden, Finland, Kazakstan, Belarus, and Ukraine. These countries do not have much of an influence of Russia. Russia is 16,995,800 Square Kilometers/6,592,711 Square Miles in size and they are number one in size in the world!
Russia's population holds about 145,470,197 people and this data was collected in July 2001. Most of their popluation lives along rivers because of the need for water (Fun Fact: Volga River is the largest in Europe). Some ethnic groups that reside in Russia are the peoples of the North Cascus, indigenous groups in Siberia, Tatars in the volga river region, and the East Slavic Ukranians and Belorusians. The reason for the Ukranians and the Belorusians is because it lies between the Ukraine-Belorus border. The different ethnic groups are separated from each other and probably have no ties with one another which means they are isolated from each other. They might have different standards of living and the amount of money they bring in could be much different.
My Government is:
Former Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
The government of Russia is pretty unique because there is no specific name for it but it is sort of similar to a democracy. The president holds considerable executive power and there is no vice president. The bicameral legislative branch consists of the lower house and the upper house but they are far weaker than the executive branch. Like the president of the U.S, Russia's president is head of armed forces but the president nominates the officials and the prime minister. The pro-government party, United Russia, won presidency and is head of the country commanding 2/3 of the people. Russia is a federation but the distribution of powers is still being developed and evolved. Vladimir Putin reigned on top of Russia from 2000-2008, being elected twice. Putin was great during presidency and gained much popularity because of stabilizing Russia's government after what the previous president had done to it. Currently, the president of Russia is Dmitry Medvedev. This government has many troubles and is leading to bad economical decisions. This would lead to trouble for Russians as well.
Current Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev.
Detailed Overview of my Economy:
The USSR/Soviet Union Days:
The USSR/Soviet Union reigned over Russia for about 73 years. They grew into a great military superpower. Although, they have been judged so cruely, they did lead the way for production possibilities. They became one of the world's largest producers if processed materials and manufactured items. The USSR emphasized the output level. The USSR wanted to transform Russia's central government into a liberal government so it could be more market-based. The Soviet Union was not able to meet the requirements of a 21st century international economy. Russia was able to gain independence from the Soviets in about 1991.
Although, the Soviet Union was helping out the economy and production levels a lot, they were not helping out the people. Since the Soviet Union was communist, people were forced to share. This kept the standard of living not low but not high either. People were very disappointed in the Soviet days and this is why the USSR was and has been so highly denounced. GDP was probably very high in these times though.
Post USSR/Soviet Union Days, The 1990s & 2000s:
Right after independence, Russia announced an economical and political reform. Their economy changed into a market-based economy and many changes occured. Though the first years of transformation was proved to be very difficult for the Russians. Some of the major declines were the industry production levels which went down 60%. Their overall economy contracted by 50% in the 1990s. In 1997, the economy started to show signs of recovery and the decline in poverty and unemployment was proof of this. Inflation which rose highly in 1993 and 1994 was starting to get under control. But budget deficits to the Russian government turned out terribly for Russia and this caused a financial crisis in 1998. The 1998 financial crisis proved to be a sharp and sudden decline and GDP per capita dropped about 40%. The Russian ruble was devalued while inflation rose to about 86%. There were some upsides to this but the downsides were atrocious. Wages fell about 30% and pensions went down by 45%. The current president was Boris Yeltsin at this time but as soon as we got into the 21st century, a new president was elected by the name of Vladimir Putin. His goal was to pay back the wages and pensions workers had lost. With Putin in control, Russia was slowly moving out of the crisis and they began to rebound. Putin's reign as president proved very meaningful and exceptional for Russia's economy as they bounced back from the crisis in 1998.
2008 - Current:
Russia's economy in 2008 was not doing good at all. First came the South Ossetia War with Georgia which president Medvedev attempted to handle. Abkhazia and South Ossetia were officially declared as independent states which stopped most conflict. On the other hand. the Russian-American tensions began to boil. The problems arose when the stock markets failed, the money markets failed, and the banks failed as well. Although those are crucial, the real problem was the decline of the steel industry, the agricultural industry, the construction & production industry, the food industry, and the airline industry. Unemployment and inflation were rising and this was causing terrible issues to Russians. In the first quarter of 2009 (read the article at the bottom), the economy shaped up just a little but the Russian economy is still in this crisis and if they don't recover soon, there country will be in total chaos.
This is terrible for the Russian people because the GDP of the country is decreasing, jobs are being taken away, inflation rates are increasing which means without a job, Russian's won't have enough money to pay for goods and needs. Standard of living is decreasing steeply because of this financial crisis which is being worked on but has yet to be resolved.
Unemployment Rate:
This bar graph shows Russia's unemployment rate for the past two years.
In 2000, the unemployment rate fell right over 10%. In the 1990s, unemployment was very high but it was above 10% all throughout. The Russian Ministry of Economy even believed unemployment rate would rise to 70% by 2001, but obivously, that was a pretty bad prediction and was very wrong.
Unemployment is probably the main factor in determining standard of living. In the 1990s, the unemployment rate was high so the standard of living was low. In 2000, the unemployment rate decreased, so accordinally, standard of living increased. Unemployment does factor into GDP because the less jobs, the less amount of objects of money that is made.
Percentage of Population Under the Poverty Line:
In the 1990s, one-third of the Russian population was under the poverty line!! Still in the 2000s, it is determined that a large share of the Russian population lives under the poverty line. Probably not one-third of the population, but quite a large amount.
The poverty line is the minimum level of income necessary to have an adequate standard of living. So in that case, the percentage of population under the poverty line means the percentage of people who do not receive the income necessary for an adequate standard of living but rather a very low standard of living. Since a large share of the Russian population is under the poverty line, this means the standard of living in Russia is not doing very good since so many people do not have an adequate standard of living.
Foreign Aid/Grants:
Russia was helped heavily from foreign aid between 1992-1997 from the FSA by about $2.2 billion. $2.6 billion was gaven to Russia from programs that are non-FSA related. The Foreign Aids/Grants increase the GDP as a whole because it promotes more government spending and the spending of the people. The Standard of Living would increase because the grants would make the consumers able to buy more products, increasing their spending. Though this could cause for inflation to occur in Russia. These Financial Aids and Grants made the Russian GDP increase and made the Standard of Living of the people their increase.
Taxation Policy:
Russia handles taxes just like the U.S. An individual is responsible for his/her own income taxes. Their federal tax is about 2.5% while their regional tax is about 17%. Excise taxes were increased around the late 1990s but since then, they have gone down. Taxes are very high on imports that come into the country but not as much on exports. Taxes were not very big during the financial crisis' and has not been a giant part of Russian's lives. The raise in taxes in the 90's made the GDP decrease due to the consumers reluctancy to buy with such high taxes. The Standard of Living is not very much effected due to the low rate of Taxes.
Economic Sectors:
An example of a service industry in Russia.
Services 53.1% (GDP Composition), 55% (Labor Force) in 1999
Financial Services
Advertising
Marketing
Sales
Tourism
Retail Trade
Weren't very big during the Soviet Union days but since the collapse of the Soviet's, it is becoming very big.
Agriculture 8.4% (GDP Composition), 15% (Labor Force) in 1999
Household Plots
Private Farms
Very inefficent and underdeveloped
Industry 38.5% (GDP Composition), 30% (Labor Force) in 1999
Heating Oil
Machine Tools
Television
Sausage Production
Declines occured in the late 1990s
International Trade:
Russian trade started very early in their times and they even have trade onions to create strikes in Russia. Because of its size and diversity, the foreign/international trade in Russia is actually relatively small compared to other European countries. International trade has brought in new ideas, movements, technologies, and goods into Russia. During the Soviet days, foreign trade was often controlled and this wasn't a period of high trade growth. Foreign trade is a monopoly in Russia but under the control of the minister of foreign trade, all buying and selling was conducted by foreign-trade "corporations". In 1996, Russia's currency, the ruble became fully convertible in the trade industry. Heading into the 21st century, trade looked to be increasing and is looking to be higher than earlier Russian times. The international trade increases the GNP but not the GDP. The GDP is not effected by oil as much because most of the exports of Russia consists of oil. The Standard Of Living is effected by the foreign trade because if the rate of Foreign Trade increases then the Russian peoples Standard of Living increases.
Name of Stock Exchange:
A graph of russian stocks from the Russian Trading System Stock Exchange website. (The bottom numbers represent time while the numbers on the side represent how well the stock exchange is doing.
Russian Trading System Stock Exchange - one of the world's major professional associations and Russia's main stock exchange. Russian stock exchanges are risky and wild places to invest into. Because of all the financial crisis', stock exchanges were at a low minimum many times in recent history, but conditions have improved slightly. The GDP of a country effects the stock exchange directly because the better the GDP the better the stock exchange will be.
Natural Resources:
A map which highlights the main areas of coal reserves in Russia and two countries bordering Russia.
Natural resources seem to be one of Russia's main points compared to their economic downfalls and crisis'. It is believed to have half of the world's natural coal reserves! Russia probably has the largest amount of petroleum reserves in the entire world as well! The coal deposits lay in central and eastern Siberia and the petroleum/oil fields mostly reside in western Siberia and in the Volga-Ural region. Also, Russia possesses around 40 percent of the natural gas in the world. Iron ore can be found in Kursk Magnetic Anormaly which are near Ukraine and these are so vast they affect the magnetic field. Other metals are also very abundant here and gold reserves are very large in Sibera and the Urals. Although, Russia is one the richest mineral nations in the world, they are located in remote areas that can be unreachable because of climate and this also affects the price. This is probably the best feature in Russia because of all the other downfalls. The GDP of Russia is directly effected because since the oil consumption in Russia is increasing, the GDP will go up. The standard of living will therefore go up due to the increase of the GDP. Oil is an important part of the Russian economy, both domestically and nationally.
Environmental Issues:
Russia is not known to have many environmental issues but does not compare to the U.S or Western Europe in cleaniness. Garbage collection is fairly dependable, sewage is treated pretty good as well but public restrooms are unsanitary and public buildings are not very clean either. Water can be dangerous because it may not be adequately treated. Pollution can be pretty big because of the industries Russia has. Their environment does have some problems but with better technology is appearing and this will cause a better environment. Though the GDP would increase in Russia because of their oil production, they would injure the environment around them. Russia is located in a large barren area where the land can be easily damaged, and so cant the earths atmosphere. Though the Standard of living would also increase, it is not worth the future consequences for Russia.
Net Migration Rate/Migration Section
Russia is known very well for the amount of people who fled Russia during the Soviet days to escape the communist ways. Migration coming into Russia during the Soviet days was at a minimum because a passport was needed to reside to Russia at the time. Migration was pretty big before the Soviet days and this is how Russia became what it is today. Economic difficulties also led to a mass crowd of Russians leaving in the 1990s. The recent drastic increase in GDP of Russia has discouraged this fleding form Russia. The Standard of Living in Russia is steadily increasing and is becoming a suitable one. This attracts many people towards Russia.
Banking and Securities:
Central Bank of Russia.
Russian banking and securities can be overlooked when studying on Russia. Let's talk about the securites and intelligence of Russia. Russia was involved in both World Wars and was even involved in a cold-war with America which ended up leading to the creation of many atomic bombs for the U.S and Russia. Crime has been big in Russia for quite a bit of time so many agencies have been created to stop this violence. Some agencies are very secretive and investigate crime suspects/scenes. The security and intelligence in Russia has been often critized for not stepping up to get rid of the crime. Some of this is not Russia's fault but they have enforced policies to fight against this. Next, the banks in Russia is under a commercial banking system. The main bank is Russia is the Central Bank of Russia and they hold the most authority banking-wise in Russia. The GDP is effected by the bank because the higher the GDp the more eager they are to give out loans to spark the economy. This would lead to a higher Standard of Living.
Literacy Rate and Education Expenditures (Education Section):
Group of Russian students pictured together.
Education in Russia is free and state funded. It is mandatory for 10 years. Their education system is broken down into primary system which is 4 year, followed by basic school which is 5 years. Russian is the main medium for instruction but other languages are taught as well. In 2003, primary school enrollment was 90% and in 2001, secondary school enrollment was 90% of all age-eligable students. The adult literacy rate in 2004 was about 99.4%. Public expenditures on education in 2003 were 3.8% of GDP or 10.7% of all government expenditures. The higher the GDP and Standard of Living the better the literacy rate and education expenditures.
Consumption Section:
Electricity consumption in Russia is about 702.71 kWh. 21 billion kWh is exported while 5.8 billion kWh was imported.
Oil consumption is rapidly rising. Over the last few years the oil usage rate has increased dramatically, over 6 percent. Russia is one of the most oil-producing countries in the world, and it is steadily rising in the ranks of the most oil consuming countries in the world. Russia's GDP Will increase due to its increased spending on oil.
Internet users in Russia were 27,000,000 in 1999.
Future Trends:
The Russia economy is facing serious challenges and the industry probably will not regain its role as one of the top industries in the world. Uncontrollable economic trends are likely to continue to affect Russia. Some problems that can cause trouble include capital flight, reliance on barter transactions, corruption of government officials, and the fear of organized crime. Banking needs to be improved to help control the economy. poverty levels are very hard to increase because it is hard to increase wage with the lower paid workers. The economy is very vulnerable to external shocks but has not been able to find a cure for growth and poverty reduction. Industry is beginning to slow so inflation must be considered a priority. Russia's decreasing infrastructure is also a problem for Russia. Future trends will have an effect on the future of GDP. If the future trends turn out how they are predicted to, GDP will decrease and standard of living will also decrease. Economic growth will also decrease and this equals, complete chaos in Russia. Hopefully, there will be plans to stop the crisis' and help save the Russian economy.
Current Event found in the Business Section of the New York Times:
This article about the Russian economy deals with the major decline of Russia during the recession and how they have been going up since the first quarter of 2009. Their economy was streaming downward during the recession because of their high dependence on oil and the exports that Russia relies on were becoming scarce. The harsh winter made it even worse and the unemployment rate increased as well. Russia was able to dodge disaster by obtaining $597.5 billion in an altercation with Japan. Economists believed that Russia would not return to their normal levels by at least 2012 but Russia managed to overcome some disasters and had a growing rate of 8.9% in the first quarter of 2008. What will occur in Russia’s future is still unknown.
- Andi Bello
This article is mostly about how the economy of Russia was in a recent decline and rise. This decline was caused by the dwindling demand for oil, Russia’s main export. Russia supplied most of the world with oil, and it was a huge part of the Russian Economy. The rise in recent months was caused by the demand in oil recent rising. The rise in oil has slightly rejuvenated the Russian Economy and gave them hope for the future. Russia evaded catatrophe by getting $597.5 billion from Japan. Although this ray of sunlight seems life saving to the Russians, the pre-crisis economy levels will not come back until the middle of 2012.
- Gokul Karur
Works Cited:
"Air Pollution." JPG file.
AP Photos. "Conference." April 23, 2001. JPG file.
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"Customer Service." JPG file.
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Russian Trading System Stock Exchange. Web. 1995-2009.
One Russian Ruble = 
0.0349 U.S Dollars
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