The coronavirus outbreak is shaping up to be the first serious test of Russia’s stability-first economic policy introduced in the wake of the economic and geopolitical turmoil of 2014. However, economists are divided on whether the country’s macroeconomic war chest will be enough to weather the coronavirus storm, or if the nature of the downturn still leaves the country exposed to global turmoil. Since 2014, the Russian government has made economic stability the bedrock of its economic policy, sacrificing economic growth and improvements in living standards and disposable incomes for ordinary Russians for the prize of some of the best macroeconomic indicators in the world — strong international reserves, low debt and a government budget surplus. At the same time, its drive for economic sovereignty attempted to pull Russia back from the global economy in order to minimize potential damage from future rounds of sanctions, and bolster Russia’s domestic industries. The government’s idea was that with stronger fundamentals and a less connected global economy, Russia would be better shielded from global economic turmoil.

news Isolationism Is Shielding Russia From Potential Global Market Meltdown Read more

However, early indications of the coronavirus impact suggest a different story could be at play. Instead of a safe haven, “the country may once again become a ‘weak link,’ as was the case during the very deep global recession of 2009 and the counter-cyclical downturn in 2015,” Vladislav Inozemtsev, director of the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies, wrote on the Riddle website. With oil prices trading at their lowest level since 2017, Russia’s traditional reliance on the black stuff for its economic wellbeing has come into focus yet again. The ruble has fallen to a 15-month low, with $1 now trading at more than 68 rubles. Meanwhile, the Russian stock market lost almost 6% on Friday alone, and has plunged by a quarter in the space of just six weeks — one of the biggest drops anywhere in the world. Chinese connections The slowdown in China, which has seen factories closed and internal movement seriously restricted, will deliver a $10 billion hit to Russia’s exports for 2020, Raiffeisen Bank’s Stanislav Murashov forecast in a research note this week. Last year, Moscow sold more than $40 billion worth of oil and gas to Beijing. In another sign of how serious the coronavirus hit to Russia’s economic relationship with China could be, the government this week decided to cancel its flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, scheduled for June. Last year’s event was attended by Premier Xi Jinping and a 1,000-strong Chinese delegation. “The risks for Russian growth forecasts are now primarily concentrated in the export component, which actually brings a pretty sizeable contribution to total growth in most pre-coronavirus forecasts,” Nordea’s chief Russia economist Tatiana Evdokimova wrote on Twitter. “In the worst case scenario we may end up with a negative contribution.”

news Coronavirus Hits Russian Exports to China Read more