Russia
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Ruble (ISO code: RUB)
- Central bank discount rate: 13% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 12.23% (2008 average)[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $252.5 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $318.4 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 195 906 | 259 708 | 306 603 | 345 470 | 431 487 | 591 742 | 764 531 | 991 450 | 1 294 930 | 1 679 480 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | 48.984 | 41.353 | 16.649 | 9.896 | 10.470 | 6.434 | ||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 31.723 | 27.512 | 26.817 | 28.708 | 31.457 | 33.365 | ||||
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 22.535 | 22.985 | 21.547 | 19.510 | 23.101 | 21.330 | ||||
| Debt to revenue (years) | 1.304 | 0.345 | 0.333 | 0.193 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_RU - ↑ World Bank. "Russia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
External links
- Russia on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Russia
- Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile