announced a package of measures designed to curb government spending
and inflation. It included eliminating bread subsidies, delaying
payment obligations, raising interest rates, and phasing out
concessionary Central Bank credits to enterprises and regions. The
measures met with some success; the monthly inflation rate declined to
13% in December. According to official statistics, Russia's 1993 trade
with nations outside the former Soviet Union produced a $16 billion
surplus, up from $6 billion in 1992. Moscow arrested the steep drop in
exports that it had been suffering as a result of ruptured ties with
former trading partners, output declines, and erratic efforts to move
to world prices. Foreign sales - comprised largely of oil, natural
gas, and other raw materials - grew slightly. Imports were down by 15%
or so as a result of new import taxes and Moscow's reluctance to
increase its debt burden by purchasing grain and other goods with
foreign credits. Russian trade with other former Soviet republics
continued to decline and yielded a surplus of some $5 billion. At the
same time, Russia paid only a fraction of the roughly $20 billion in
debt coming due in 1993, and by mid-year, Russia's foreign debt had
amounted to $81.5 billion. While Moscow reached agreement to
restructure debts with Paris Club official creditors in April 1993,
Moscow's refusal to waive its right to sovereign immunity kept Russia
and its bank creditors from agreeing to restructure Moscow's
commercial loans. Capital flight continued to be a serious problem in
1993, with billions of dollars in assets owned by Russians being
parked abroad at yearend. Russia's capital stock continues to
deteriorate because of insufficient maintenance and new construction.
The capital stock on average is twice the age of capital stock in the
West. Many years will pass before Russia can take full advantage of
its natural resources and its human assets.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $775.4 billion (1993 estimate from
the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and
published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as
extrapolated to 1993 using official Russian statistics, which are very
uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990)
National product real growth rate:
-12% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$5,190 (1993 est.)
Inflation