Russia Must Reform or Face Stagnation ­ UniCredit
Tai Adelaja - Business New Europe - bne.com - 3.15.12 - JRL 2012-49

MOSCOW, March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Economic reform in Russian is stalling, threatening stagnation, according to a UniCredit Bank report, business paper Vedomosti reported on Thursday.

The report, entitled Russian Refometer, says Russia must implement reforms in such areas as improvement of the investment climate, enhancement of transparency of state companies, privatization, tax reform and general reforms including overhauling the country's political and pension systems and more efficient state spending.

The bank's experts gave the government's ideas 26 points on a 50-point scale and assessed their implementation at 14 points. The sum of these two indicators forms the so-called barometer of reforms.

Currently the sum is 40 points and the bank's analysts say that reforms may be curtailed if the barometer falls below 25 points and will be actively implemented if the figure is over 75 points.

The research also says that the success of reforms will largely depend on the composition of the new government, which should consist of new figures to Russia's Cabinet of Ministers.

Keywords: Russia, Economy, Business - Russian News - Russia

MOSCOW, March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Economic reform in Russian is stalling, threatening stagnation, according to a UniCredit Bank report, business paper Vedomosti reported on Thursday.

The report, entitled Russian Refometer, says Russia must implement reforms in such areas as improvement of the investment climate, enhancement of transparency of state companies, privatization, tax reform and general reforms including overhauling the country's political and pension systems and more efficient state spending.

The bank's experts gave the government's ideas 26 points on a 50-point scale and assessed their implementation at 14 points. The sum of these two indicators forms the so-called barometer of reforms.

Currently the sum is 40 points and the bank's analysts say that reforms may be curtailed if the barometer falls below 25 points and will be actively implemented if the figure is over 75 points.

The research also says that the success of reforms will largely depend on the composition of the new government, which should consist of new figures to Russia's Cabinet of Ministers.