Russia In Depth: Doing Business in Russia
1. The Russian economy is one of a small handful to have undergone the stressful transition from centrally planned economy to a free market system. The only other national economies to undergo such transitions include the economies of the other former republics of the USSR.
2. Despite economic difficulties and high debt to income ratios, the Russian economy has been one of the fastest improving economies in the world. In 2000, Russia’s foreign debt was estimated to be as high as two-thirds of the national GDP; in 2003, it fell to just 28%.
3. Russia has one of the world's largest labor forces. In 2004, with a labor force of nearly 72 million, Russia ranked in seventh place, behind China, India, the EU, the United States, Indonesia and Brazil.
4. Russia’s official monetary unity is the Russian ruble, abbreviated “RUR”.
5. Vladimir Lenin and his successor, Joseph Stalin, were the two most influential people in Soviet economic history. The system they put into place remained virtually unchanged for 60 years and parts of it continued on even after the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Both Lenin and Stalin established the basic patterns of collectivization and industrialization that became the hallmarks of the USSR’s centrally planned economy.
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