This paper discusses costs, benefits, and implementation challenges of a possible currency union between Belarus and Russia. It shows that Belarus and Russia are economically closely linked but nevertheless do not fulfill all ""optimal currency area"" criteria, especially the macroeconomic...

With China''s accession to the WTO in 2001, Russia is by far that organization''s most prominent nonmember. This paper applies the gravity model to gauge whether this ""outsider"" status has been affecting Russia''s export structure. On the basis of cross-section and panel regressions for...

Oil revenue plays a central role in Russia''s economic development. Thus, the recent decline in oil production and investment, and the possible contribution of the current fiscal regime to these developments, have prompted a reassessment of the oil tax system in Russia. Some important changes...

The health of the Russian economy still depends heavily on natural resource revenues. The history of the economic collapse and recovery in 1970–2004 provides new evidence on the sources of Russian economic growth, while a survey of the economic literature suggests that the Russian economy...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes Russia's growth performance, the recovery in output, factors behind the post-crisis recovery, the role of the ruble depreciation and higher international energy prices, and labor market trends. The paper describes the developments in the government budget...

Propelled by large terms-of-trade gains, GDP growth has accelerated and is running close to potential. The demand pressures associated with the large terms-of-trade gains are reflected in a fast real appreciation of the ruble, although more of this has come through nominal appreciation during...

Russia’s large oil and gas reserves play a key role in its economic development. As with many other large oil exporters, Russia’s energy wealth is also posing numerous challenges to macroeconomic management. Although fiscal policy has saved a large part of the oil windfall in the Oil...

In this study, the following are listed: GDP by sector and expenditure, gross industrial output by sector, employment by sector, industrial employment by sector, indicators of hidden unemployment, selected labor market indicators, unemployment rate by regions, consumer price inflation and CPI...

This Selected Issues paper for the Russian Federation reviews trends in private capital flows to Russia by decomposing the flows into its subcomponents. Russia became a net lender to the international banking system, as a complement to the prolonged period of large current account surpluses. The...

Since 1991, the 15 countries under review - have to varying degrees, been pursuing reforms whose broad objectives have been to achieve market-based determination of interest rates and exchange rates, manage banking system liquidity through market operations with indirect instruments, and provide...