#6
Financial Times (UK)
30 October 2001
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Report of Russia's 'boom' has a hollow ring
From Mr Andrew Miller.
Sir, Andrew Jack's article "Russia booms as west heads into downturn" (October 26) was quite shocking in its claims of an economic "boom" in that benighted land. If a person earned Pounds 1 in 2000 and Pounds 3 in 2001, he has experienced 200 per cent economic growth in one year - but he still does not have enough to feed himself for even one week, much less the year.
Russia's per capita gross domestic product is about Dollars 3 a day. The 5 per cent GDP growth you report as a "boom" therefore amounts to the annual addition of 15 cents.
The market capitalisation of the Russian stock market is still a tiny fraction of that in Poland or Hungary. The budget of the Kremlin is still dwarfed by that of New York City.
Furthermore, Mr Jack states: "Moscow has been busy over the past few weeks, with openings of shops, restaurants and cafes." Aside from being, apparently, based solely on anecdotal information supplied by your reporter (certainly no statistics were given), this fails to observe that Moscow is a city of 10m in a nation of 145m and totally unrepresentative of the national picture, as anyone who has travelled widely in Russia knows full well (I have done so).
Andrew Miller, New York City, US
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