Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

OECD Says Russia Must Reform To Maintain Boom

An automobile plant in Togliatti (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)

November 27, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A new survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says Russia must pursue urgent economic reforms if it wants to sustain the country's current petrodollar boom.

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November 27, 2006

The OECD report says Russia is vulnerable to rapid inflation and declining competitiveness if it fails to enforce fiscal discipline to managing continued high oil prices.

The survey deemed Russia's recent economic performance as "impressive," with the country experiencing an average of 6.7 percent annual GDP growth between 1999 and 2005.

But the OECD warns that continued strong growth will depend on a sound macroeconomic environment and market-friendly structural reforms. The group urged better reforms to empower citizens and enhance transparency.

It also qualified the expansion of state ownership as a "step back," saying Russia's record as an owner of industrial and financial companies is "poor."

Russia And Global Energy Security

An oil field in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan (TASS file photo)

ENERGY SECURITY is increasingly moving to the top of the EU's agenda in its dealings the outside world. A recent report identifies the European Union's main energy objectives as not just securing gas and oil deliveries from Russia, but also ensuring that it has reliable alternative sources, including in Central Asia. Nonetheless, EU officials say relations with Russia take center-stage in their thinking....(more)

EU Maintains Codependent Energy Relationship With Russia

Moscow Gets Tough With The EU

Turkmenistan: The Achilles' Heel Of European Energy Security

U.S. Official Urges Reforms In Energy-Producing Countries

ARCHIVE

A complete archive of RFE/RL's coverage of energy issues in the Caspian Sea region and Russia.

Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More