Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach has suggested that the ruble could return to its 2008 high and reach 23 against the dollar next year, if oil prices continue going strong, spelling problems for exporters.  The Duma has passed the budget in a first vote, with it receiving 315 votes to go with United Russia's 315 deputies.  Vladimir Putin has met with business leaders from Germany, its biggest trading partner: German businesses are apparently faring well in Russia, despite the crisis.  President Medvedev is apparently confident that Russia's hopes to join the WTO have not been jeopardized by its dalliance with the idea of a three-party customs union bid.  First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, Gennady Melikyan, has told Reuters that financial institutions are weathering stress tests well, although a report in Bloomberg puts on different spin, quoting Melikyan ...

After a second consecutive month of growth in July, when GDP increased by 0.5%, government ministers Igor Shuvalov and Andrei Klepach have felt optimistic enough to suggest Russia's recession may be over - 'but the crisis has yet to be overcome'.  Sberbanks's profits fell by 93% in the first seven months of the year.  The bank will provide Rushydro with up to 20 billion rubles to fund the rebuilding of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant.  ITAR-TASS reports that mortgage loan interest rates may decrease to pre-recession levels in 2-3 years.  Opel unions will put pressure on GM to accept the Magna bid for the car maker's European unit, promising 'spectacular measures' to push a deal through.  Apparently joblessness continues to rise in 47 of Russia's regions.  Following a chorus of criticism joined by Oleg Deripaska, ...

In a meeting with Russian businessmen, Dmitry Medvedev has lambasted ministers who make gloomy economic forecasts. 'When my colleagues from the government say that Russia will not come out of the crisis for another 50 years, it is unacceptable. If you think so - go and work somewhere else'.  Nonetheless, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach has said that Russia's economy could shrink as much as 8% this year after dropping 9.8% in the first four months of 2009.   Reuters reports that Russia's recession this year may be 50% deeper than during the 1998 crisis.  Picketing outside the Economic Development Ministry on national Entrepreneur Day, small business owners complained they are not supported enough by government measures.  The Moscow Times reports on Nizhny Novgorod, the car and bus manufacturing hub, beaten by the crisis but trying ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /According to Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach last week, Russia's economy shrank by 7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2009, a staggering turnaround for an economy which has just enjoyed eight years of solid oil-fueled growth.br /br /"These figures are worse than we expected," Klepach said at a press conference in Kiev,citing preliminary figures. Klepach also stated that net capital outflows reached $33 billion in the first quarter of 2009, following record outflows of $130 billion in the second half of last year.br /br /pa href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SdsTJmo57XI/AAAAAAAANbI/gYR1beR2NiI/s1600-h/russia+gdp.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321868440380239218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 229px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SdsTJmo57XI/AAAAAAAANbI/gYR1beR2NiI/s400/russia+gdp.png" border="0" //abr /br /The Russian State Statistics Service have also released official gross domestic product figures for the fourth quarter of 2008. GDP was up 1.2 percent year on year, the worst reading for any quarter since ...

By Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /Russia's foreign-exchange reserves have been now been declining very rapidly since mid August, and as the money goes so does the faith that the large stock of reserves the country built up during the boom times would be sufficient to see them through any downturn in energy prices. As the money leaves, so it seems does the decade of economic growth and stability which they symbolised. Indeed so rapid has been the decline that Russia's international reserves, which are the third-biggest after those of China and Japan, have now fallen $161 billion, or 27% percent, since 8 August last, and decreased by $17.9 billion to $437 billion in the week to 5 December. Investors have now pulled $211 billion out of the country since August, according to estimates by BNP Paribas.br /br /br /pa href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SUbQptNe4tI/AAAAAAAALyE/K0xlBOy3AlA/s1600-h/russia+GDP.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280137028067844818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: ...