World Bank indicators. World Bank databases
Russia overtook South Korea and rose from 12th to 11th place in the ranking of economies by GDP in 2017, according to updated data from the World Bank. Over the year, Russian GDP in dollar terms at current prices increased by almost $300 billion, from $1.28 trillion to $1.58 trillion. South Korea's GDP rose from $1.41 trillion to $1.53 trillion.
Russia in this list is far ahead of its three BRICS partners - China (2nd), India (6th) and Brazil (8th), Brazil is the closest with a margin of $478 billion. only two changes: India overtook France to sixth place, and Brazil overtook Italy to eighth (see infographic).
The World Bank relies on official Rosstat data, which includes Crimea and Sevastopol. "Based on these data, the World Bank does not intend to make any judgments regarding the legal or other status of the affected territories," the institute said. In 2016 (latest available data), the total GRP of Crimea and Sevastopol amounted to approximately 380 billion rubles, or $6 billion at the current exchange rate.
Fight for a place in the top five
More suitable for international comparisons is GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP, equalizes the purchasing power of currencies of different countries). It is according to this indicator that Russia should enter the top five countries by 2024, Vladimir Putin set the task. By September 1, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance were instructed to develop a plan to fulfill this task.
At the end of 2017, Russia increased its GDP at PPP at current prices from $3.64 trillion to $3.75 trillion, according to the World Bank data, but remained, like a year ago, in sixth place. Fifth - Germany, from which Russia lagged behind by $ 445 billion. The gap from Germany is 4-5%, the task is for the growth of the Russian economy to exceed the growth of Germany by 4% over the next six years, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin explained in May. “The German economy is not an economy that is growing at a super-fast pace. Therefore, we must, of course, show higher rates of economic development and bypass it in this rating,” the minister said. According to Rosstat, in 2017, Russia's GDP grew by 1.5%. This estimate can be improved by 0.3 p.p. due to the recent revision by Rosstat of the dynamics of industrial production over the past year, the Ministry of Economic Development reported on July 12. In 2018, GDP growth will be 1.9%, in 2019 - 1.4%, follows from the latest macro forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development. The agency updated it, taking into account the April expansion of US anti-Russian sanctions, the tasks set by the May decree, as well as the increase in the VAT rate from 2019, which will lead to an additional increase in prices.
The world's most influential organization is the World Bank. What is it like, who manages it, which countries does it provide financial assistance to and on what terms, and what does the World Bank do in Russia?
The History of the World Bank
An organization with the name International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), just like the IMF, was created by decision of the Bretton Woods Conference to discuss the economic structure of the new world after World War II and held in July 1944 in the United States. We can say that today the World Bank is a global financial and political instrument.
Formally established on December 27, 1945, the IBRD made its first $250 million loan only under a second president named John McCloy, who served from March 17, 1947 to July 1, 1949. France turned out to be the borrower, and a prerequisite for lending was the non-participation of the Communists in the country's coalition government.
Subsequently, the International Bank actively provided loans to Japan and Western European countries, which were rebuilding their economies after the war under the Marshall Plan. Over time, the World Bank Group was formed from several organizations solving various problems. All organizations are headquartered in Washington DC.
Further milestones in history:
- 1960 - Establishment of the International Development Association;
- 1968-1980 - increase in the volume and expansion of the structure of loans to developing countries;
- 1980-1989 - lending to the economies of the third world, aimed at their development, with a reduction in loans for government social spending;
- since 1989 - further expansion of the range of loans for a variety of purposes
In 2007, the bank provided $23.6 billion in loans and credits to developing countries.
Structure of the World Bank
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group currently consists of 5 structures:
- International Development Association (IDA) - gives grants and interest-free loans to the governments of the poorest countries;
- International Finance Corporation (IFC) - lends exclusively to private companies;
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) - attracts foreign direct investment in developing countries by providing guarantees to investors and creditors that serve as insurance against political risks;
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) - provides financing in the form of loans from middle-income countries and creditworthy member states;
International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - deals with the resolution of disputes related to foreign investment
At the same time, the concept of "World Bank", unlike the group, refers only to its constituent IBRD and IDA.
IBRD management
The supreme governing body is the Board of Governors, which meets once a year as part of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The Board of Governors is composed of one representative each from 189 participating countries. The number of votes of each of them depends on the share in the capital of the bank. The following hierarchical structure is the Coordinating Committee:
The current activities are managed by the Board of Directors located at the headquarters, 20 of whose members represent groups of member countries, 5 are the largest shareholders:
1. USA (16.4% of shares);
2. Japan (7.9% of shares);
3. Germany (4.5% of shares);
4. Great Britain (4.3% of shares);
5. France (4.3% stake)
The president chairs the meetings of the Board of Directors and heads the general management of the bank, who is elected for a 5-year term by the Board of Governors. Since 2012, the presidency has been occupied by Jim Yong Kim, re-elected in 2017 - like all predecessors, a US citizen. The total number of employees of the International Bank is almost 12,000 people, about 60% work in the USA.
Organization membership
The condition for membership in the IBRD is the entry of the participating country into the IMF. In turn, to become a member of any other organization of the World Bank Group, the country must first enter the IBRD.
Today, 189 states are members of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and 173 of the International Development Association.
Goals and functions of the IBRD
The main directions of the World Bank:
- financing of state programs for development and reconstruction;
- helping the poorest countries, fighting hunger and poverty;
- encouraging and supporting global partnerships;
- mat. promotion of sustainable development of the environment;
- improving maternal and child health, combating HIV/AIDS and mass infectious diseases
IBRD and IDA finance projects in a wide variety of areas in the form of:
- low interest loans;
- long-term interest-free loans;
- grants
The bank's funds consist of capital accumulated over many years and replenished by contributions from member countries, as well as proceeds from the sale of bank bonds.
Last year, in 2017, according to the bank's annual reports, IBRD provided $17,861 million and IDA $12,668 million. Funds were distributed fairly evenly across regions, with 23% of funds sent to Africa (although $6,623 million was allocated from IDA). , and only 427 from the IBRD), to South Asia - 18%, to East Asia and the Pacific region - 17%.
In fiscal 2017, IBRD raised the equivalent of $56 billion by issuing bonds in 24 currencies. According to Standard & Poor's, bonds have the highest reliability rating. Therefore, such bonds are suitable not only for corporations, but also for traditionally cautious insurance companies and pension funds.
At the same time, IDA is financed to a large extent by contributions from partner countries from among developed countries and middle-income countries. In addition, part of the money comes from the income of the IBRD. Since 2016, IDA has had the highest credit rating.
In addition to funding public and private sector projects, the organization provides advisory and analytical services to developing countries. The official website of the bank worldbank.org publishes data from the World Bank on the state of the economy, education, healthcare and other aspects of the development of the participating countries.
World Bank in Russia
Russia joined four of the five structures of the World Bank Group in 1992. The share of the Russian Federation in the capital of the IBRD today is 2.98%. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin represents the country in the Board of Governors of the World Bank.
In July 2014, due to sanctions imposed on Russia, the country's receipt of new funding was suspended. However, the Program of State External Borrowings of the Russian Federation in the World Bank and at the moment consists of 16 projects for a total of $2 billion.
In addition, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the World Bank in Russia has a portfolio of 6 projects for a total of $435 million in loans.
Criticism of the International Bank
The International Bank is often accused of doing the same thing as the International Monetary Fund - lending to developing countries, imposing certain restrictions on them and demanding reforms that drive states into credit bondage.
One of the World Bank's VIP critics, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, who at one time worked in the organization as the chief economist and knows it from the inside, proves that IBRD programs do not ensure the sustainable development of third world countries. The expert notes that while Russia followed the recommendations of the World Bank, the real incomes of citizens in the country fell, and China, ignoring the opinion of the United States, achieved economic growth in the meantime.
The World Bank ( World Bank) is an international financial institution specializing in long-term lending, project financing, capital market operations. It was created under the Bretton Woods agreements in 1944. It carries out large-scale investment financing programs in developing countries and transition economies. The headquarters is located in Washington (USA).
The structure of the World Bank (Finance) databases (worldbank.org) useful in financial market analytics:
World Development Indicators(Database "World Development Indicators");
Global Financial Development(Database "Global Financial Development");
Public Sector Debt Statistics Centralized Database(Central Database of Public Debt Statistics) in cooperation with the IMF (IMF);
Quartely External Debt Statistics (Quarterly External Debt Statistics Database) with the IMF.
World Development Indicators. The World Development Indicators database provides free access; data export to Excel, graphs, maps; data for more than 200 jurisdictions and groups of countries;
- world prices for the main types of goods, dynamics of commodity price indices;
- statistics of money, banks, credit, public finance, balance of payments, GDP;
- other multiple statistics (a characteristic of the level of financial and economic development).
Sample sample (data at the end of the period):
Bank capital / Assets, % |
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Broad money, % of GDP |
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Central government debt, % of GDP |
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Claims on other sectors of the domestic economy, % of GDP |
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Export of goods and services, % of GDP |
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GDP growth rate per year, % |
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GDP per capita at current prices, USD |
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Savings rate, % of GDP |
It is impossible to understand what is happening on local exchanges without answering questions about how it feels and how fast the macroeconomics is developing (or, conversely, degrading)? How saturated is it with money, banks, debts and other financial assets? What part of the added value is given to development? The answers to these and other questions create a unique feeling of either “project success”, “growth atmosphere”, “market maturity”, when exchanges are growing by leaps and bounds, or, on the contrary, a world of risks, high volatility, speculative expectations and short time horizons for investment.
In other words, it is impossible to build successful, confident and steadily growing capital and money markets in a single country if its economy and finances have a shaky, seismically active foundation. It is impossible to evaluate the market situation without having in mind how well the macroeconomic and financial house in which the exchange is created is organized.
It seems that these arguments are trivial, that they are obvious. But the practice of Russian analytics, the years of victorious reports, when, on the contrary, it was necessary to think about what is happening, prove the opposite.
Global Financial Development. Database “Global Financial Development Provides Free Access; data export to Excel; data for more than 200 jurisdictions, countries and groups of countries;
- time horizons - from 1960 to the present (actual data), annual data;
- financial depth (the degree of saturation of the economy with money, financial instruments, institutions and markets), the availability of financial services, the stability of financial institutions and markets, the effectiveness of financial intermediation.
Sample sample, %
Concentration of banking assets at five banks |
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Assets of insurance companies / GDP |
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Interest margin on deposit loans |
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Market capitalization of the ten largest companies / Market capitalization of the entire market |
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Mutual fund assets / GDP |
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Number of listed companies per 10,000 people, units |
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Pension fund assets / GDP |
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Assets of foreign banks / Total banking assets |
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Number of banks with foreign participation / Number of banks - total |
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Equity market capitalization / GDP |
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Turnover on transactions in the stock market / GDP |
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Turnover in the stock market (Turnover on transactions in the stock market / Capitalization) |
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Turnover on transactions of the ten most traded companies / Turnover on transactions on the stock market |
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Stock index volatility |
The higher the financial development, the more the economy is saturated with money, financial instruments (credits, bonds, stocks, derivatives, structured products, etc.) and financial institutions, the more accessible financial services are to the population, the greater the operational capacity is for investments to reach not only to ordinary sectors of the economy, but also to that part of it that is usually called "high-tech", "innovation", venture capital and start-ups, small capitalization companies, to those segments of the economy where its future is determined. And, of course, the higher the financial development, the deeper the exchange markets, the more stable they are and the more competitive they are in the fight against other markets for issuers, investors and trading activity, the larger the exchange.
In this regard, the analysis of financial development in dynamics, in comparison with other countries, is something without which it is impossible to imagine a balanced assessment of the market situation, taking into account the fundamental factors that form it.
Public Sector Debt Statistics Centralized Database. Centralized database of public debt statistics, shared with the International Monetary Fund, provides free access; data export to Excel; data for over 60 jurisdictions and country groups; generation of reports according to any given criteria;
- time horizons - from 1995 to the present (actual data), annual, quarterly data;
- public debt, debt of state corporations, public sector (volume and structure of debt by currency, terms, financial instruments, countries of origin of creditors, etc.).
Sample sample (data at the end of the period, the structure of gross central government debt by currency in which it is denominated), billion dollars:
Quarterly External Debt Statistics. The Quarterly External Debt Statistics Database, shared with the International Monetary Fund, provides free access; data export to Excel; data for more than 100 jurisdictions and groups of countries; generation of reports according to any given criteria;
- time horizons - from 2002 to the present (actual data), annual, quarterly data;
- external debt by subjects (government, monetary authorities, banks, non-financial sector), by types of instruments, terms; debt service burden.
Sample sample (data at the end of the period, gross external debt), billion dollars:
External debt is able to "bury" the most successful projects for the development of financial markets. This has been proven many times over by external debt crises in emerging markets, including Russia. In August 1998, Russian stock exchanges were destroyed, left without liquidity, stock indices reached 7-8% of their maximum values. Foreign capital fled the market, which for several years brought tens of percent per annum in foreign currency, along with a "soap bubble" in the market of Russian shares denominated in US dollars.
Exactly the same story was observed in Argentina in the early 2000s, in Greece in 2010-2012. Therefore, the state and dynamics of public debt, especially in the part that does not depend on domestic investors (the state always finds ways to “deal with them”), are critical areas of study for a b financial analyst. What part of the external debt depends on non-residents and what kind of non-residents are they, in what currency, with what terms of investments and to what extent are they highly speculative, playing on the difference in foreign exchange yields between markets? What are the credit, interest rate, currency and market risks that lie on the public debt, especially in the part that is traded on the stock exchange?
The answers to these and other questions related to public debt are of fundamental importance to the financial analyst, especially if he is not limited to indifferent commentary on the current flow of events.
Russia has come close to the top 10 economies in the world in terms of GDP, according to new data from the World Bank. In terms of GDP, taking into account purchasing power parity (benchmark of the May decree), Russia remains outside the top five
Photo: Vitaly Ankov / RIA Novosti
Russia overtook South Korea and rose from 12th to 11th place in the ranking of economies by GDP in 2017, according to updated data from the World Bank. Over the year, Russian GDP in dollar terms at current prices increased by almost $300 billion, from $1.28 trillion to $1.58 trillion. South Korea's GDP rose from $1.41 trillion to $1.53 trillion.
Russia in this list is far ahead of its three BRICS partners - China (2nd), India (6th) and Brazil (8th), Brazil is the closest with a margin of $478 billion.
In the top 10 economies, there were only two changes: India overtook France to sixth place, and Brazil overtook Italy to eighth ( see infographic).
The World Bank relies on official Rosstat data, which includes Crimea and Sevastopol. “Based on these data, the World Bank does not intend to make any judgments regarding the legal or other status of the affected areas,” the institute said. In 2016 (latest available data), the total GRP of Crimea and Sevastopol amounted to approximately 380 billion rubles, or $6 billion at the current exchange rate.
Fight for a place in the top five
More suitable for international comparisons is GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP, equalizes the purchasing power of currencies of different countries). It is by this indicator that Russia should enter the top five countries by 2024, Vladimir Putin. By September 1, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance were instructed to develop a plan to fulfill this task.
At the end of 2017, Russia increased its GDP at PPP at current prices from $3.64 trillion to $3.75 trillion, according to the World Bank data, but remained, like a year ago, in sixth place. Fifth is Germany, behind which Russia is $445 billion behind.
The lag behind Germany is 4-5%, the task is to ensure that over the next six years the growth of the Russian economy by 4% exceeds the growth of Germany, in May the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin. “The German economy is not an economy that is growing at a superfast pace. Therefore, we must, of course, show higher rates of economic development and bypass it in this rating,” the minister said.
According to Rosstat, Russia's GDP grew by 1.5% in 2017. This estimate can be improved by 0.3 p.p. due to the recent revision by Rosstat of the dynamics of industrial production over the past year, the Ministry of Economic Development reported on July 12. In 2018, GDP growth will be 1.9%, in 2019 - 1.4%, and from the latest macro forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development. The agency updated it, taking into account the April expansion of US anti-Russian sanctions, the tasks set by the May decree, as well as the increase in the VAT rate from 2019, which will lead to an additional increase in prices.
Growth was supported by easier access to loans, faster access to electricity, facilitation of international trade, and procedures for registering property. Over the past four years, Russia has risen in the ranking by 65 positions.
“If last year we had a somewhat negative trend, this year we managed to reverse the trend, and the rating for Russia has grown significantly,” Maxim Oreshkin.
In 2016, the compilers of the rating updated the calculation methodology, introducing confusion. In 2015, Russia was ranked 51st in the Doing Business rating, or 36th according to the new methodology, in 2016 it was 40th, down four positions. This time there can be no misunderstandings - a net increase of five positions.
The World Bank's Doing Business Consolidated Ranking includes countries' performance on a number of parameters, the totality of which demonstrates the ease of starting and doing business in each country. The rating includes 190 states, the position of which depends on indicators of more than a dozen sub-indices: starting a business, obtaining a building permit, connecting to electricity networks, access to loans, registering property, etc. The rating helps countries focus on areas in which they have identified shortcomings, and investors to determine in which country it will be more profitable to invest their money.
Where rushed
A key indicator of growth is the ease of access to loans for entrepreneurs. In this direction, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) implemented several programs at once during the year. For example, "Six and a half" - a program developed by the Ministry of Economic Development in conjunction with and implemented by the federal corporation for the development of small and medium-sized businesses. The success of the "Six and a Half" is largely the personal merit of the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin.
“Russia has entered the top 10 countries in the world in terms of connecting to networks and in the top 30 in terms of registering property, executing contracts, registering enterprises and lending,” the minister said at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with members of the government.
Thanks to the Six and a Half program, entrepreneurs can take preferential loans at a rate of 10.6 percent per annum (for small businesses) and 9.6 percent for medium ones. Banks participating in the Six and a Half program get the opportunity to refinance at the Bank of Russia at a rate of 6.5 percent per annum - hence the name of this program. 45 banks participate in Six and a Half, including the largest banks in the country.
World Bank experts note an improvement in the situation with international trade. In many ways, the growth in this indicator is due to the launch of a new port in the Gulf of Finland, which increased competition in the market and reduced the cost of customs clearance in the Big Port of St. Petersburg.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov / Kommersant
The third important factor is a significant simplification of the property registration process. According to this sub-index, Russia took 12th place out of 190, and the total waiting time for registering property decreased from 52 days in 2004 (it was then that the World Bank included this sub-index in the ranking) to 13 days. (a subordinate body of the Ministry of Economic Development), which formalizes the rights to property, posted on its website a list of documents necessary for registering property, opened a hotline. This allowed to significantly reduce the registration time: for example, in Moscow and St. Petersburg - up to 7 days.
In addition, the Ministry of Economic Development is implementing the project "Improving the Efficiency of Rosreestr": a bonus system is being introduced in the department in order to reduce corruption risks. The Ministry of Economic Development also plans to eliminate legislative obstacles that hinder the work of the department.
Consistently high positions of Russia in the sub-index "access to power grids" - 10th place out of 190 countries. World Bank experts note the reliability of power grids, the transparency of the established tariff and its low cost. “To connect electricity in Russia, you will have to go through only three procedures, compared to five on average in the world,” the report says. It takes 80 days to connect an enterprise to the network, which is the average among countries (OECD).
Russia also has a high result in terms of the “enforcement of contracts” indicator. These are the procedures, the time spent and the costs involved in debt litigation. Russia here took 18th place in the world. WB experts note the speed of making decisions, which is largely determined by the progressive electronic judicial system. According to WB estimates, the average commercial litigation in Russia lasts about 337 days, compared to 578 days in OECD countries. The cost of litigation in Russia is significantly lower than in OECD countries. The average size of an arbitration claim in Russia is 1.075 million rubles, and the cost of litigation does not exceed 15 percent of the average size of a claim, that is, about 162 thousand rubles, which is one and a half times less than the same indicator among OECD countries.
Photo: Evgeny Pavlenko / Kommersant
Finally, according to the World Bank, you can now start your own business in Russia in just 10 days using four procedures. According to this indicator, Russia ranks 28th in the Doing Business ranking. For comparison, 15 years ago, starting a business in Russia required nine procedures and 43 days. The cost of all these procedures has decreased by 12 times.
Where sank
Difficulties, according to WB analysts, in Russia are still observed with a building permit. As an example, the World Bank cites the need to obtain government approval for the construction of a warehouse - it will take 50 percent more time than the world average, but this is a big step forward. In six years, the term was reduced by half. To obtain a building permit in Russia, you will need to go through 15 procedures and spend an average of 231 days, compared to 12.5 procedures in 155 days in OECD countries.
“At the same time, there are areas where we still look very bad. For example, obtaining a building permit, here we have 115th place, and international trade, where we occupy the 100th position,” Oreshkin admits.
Photo: Mikhail Voskresensky / RIA Novosti
Indeed, despite a number of successful measures, including the modernization of the customs infrastructure, the introduction of electronic document management, the cost of processing customs documents is still high. The average time to export a product is 72 hours versus 12.7 hours in OECD countries. Export and import costs in Russia are also several times higher than those of the OECD. For example, the customs duty on imports in Russia is $400, while in OECD countries it is $111.6.
Negative dynamics is observed in the "taxation" sub-index. According to this indicator, Russia dropped by seven positions and took 51st place among 190 economies. During the year, an entrepreneur will pay seven types of taxes (versus 11 in OECD countries), but will spend an average of 168 hours on it, compared to 161 hours in the OECD. The share of taxes as a percentage of income in Russia is also higher - 47.6 percent versus 40.1 percent in the OECD.
Neighbors and rating leaders
France, Holland, Switzerland and Japan became new competitors and at the same time neighbors of Russia in the Doing Business ranking. Among major European economies, Russia has overtaken Belgium and Italy. Russia also surpassed all its partners in the unification: Brazil was in 125th place, India took 100th position, China - 78th, South Africa - 82nd.
At the bottom of the ranking are Somalia, Eritrea, Venezuela, South Sudan and Yemen. The most optimal country for doing business experts of the World Bank is New Zealand. In second place - Singapore, in third - Denmark. In fourth position is South Korea, which managed to bypass Hong Kong. The top ten also includes the USA, Great Britain, Norway, Georgia and Sweden.
New Frontiers
During a meeting with the President of Russia, Maxim Oreshkin stressed that the rating is not an end in itself, it helps countries to realize where they have identified problems and help with their solution. The main task of the Ministry of Economic Development is to create favorable conditions for investment and doing business in Russia, and the department already has a recipe for how to do this.
“The bill that was prepared by our ministry has passed zero reading in the parliament and is being prepared for approval by the government. The main task within the framework of this bill is the transition from the principle of punishment to the principle of prevention and the creation of smart risk assessment systems,” the minister said. A paradigm shift in the control and oversight bodies, according to Oreshkin, is the second main goal for the near future.
The Ministry of Economic Development is responsible for the growth of the Russian economy. Maxim Oreshkin headed the department on November 30, 2016. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Minister of Finance. According to the latest forecasts, Russia's GDP will grow by 2.1 percent in 2017.
To improve the business climate in Russia, it is necessary to extrapolate successful cases and practices from federal centers and large cities throughout Russia. In this direction, the MED together with (ASI) continues to work actively, despite the progress already made. As an example, we can cite a program to increase labor productivity, which the Ministry of Economic Development is implementing jointly with. During the meeting, the head of the department said that within the framework of this program, 500 million rubles would be allocated from the budget. The program will be implemented during 2018-2020, six regions are participating in the pilot project.
Finally, according to Oreshkin, it's time for Russia to abandon the tilt towards technical procedures and shift the focus to the development of human capital - the main factor in the competitiveness of the economy in the 21st century.