Russia’s Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said recently that the main constraints on Russia’s economic development are domestic, putting her at odds with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere Della Sera this month blamed international circumstances including the sanctions, Expert Online writes.
“We are clearly living now in a scenario that is not all that risky. Oil prices are somewhat higher than expected; our country continues to be of interest for global capital markets. Therefore, in my opinion, the main constraints on development are domestic,” Nabiullina said on July 4 at the International Financial Congress banking forum in St. Petersburg,
Furthermore, according to Nabiullina, national projects, regarded by Putin as an impetus to breakthrough development, do not provide a guarantee of “a proportionate multiplier effect through the expansion of private investment.”
“Macro-stability is not yet a growth. And the growth is now around 1.5-2%, while in the first quarter it amounted to only 0.5%. With very low unemployment. And this is the result that we will have without structural changes. Because the policy of maintaining macroeconomic stability can only stabilize the economy around its current capacity,” the governor of the Bank of Russia said.
“Of course, it is always tempting to blaming everything on external factors, but, in my opinion, the crux of the matter is far from them. Yes, the global economy is slowing. Trade wars and geopolitical tensions only exacerbate the situation… But on the other hand, the external environment is not so bad. We are clearly living now in a scenario that is not all that risky. Oil prices are somewhat higher than expected; our country continues to be of interest for global capital markets,” Nabiullina added.
