Economy - overview A decade after the implosion of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Russia is still struggling to establish a modern market economy and achieve strong economic growth. In contrast to its trading partners in Central Europe - which were able to overcome the initial production declines that accompanied the launch of market reforms within three to five years - Russia saw its economy contract for five years, as the executive and legislature dithered over the implementation of many of the basic foundations of a market economy. Russia achieved a slight recovery in 1997, but the government's stubborn budget deficits and the country's poor business climate made it vulnerable when the global financial crisis swept through in 1998. The crisis culminated in the August depreciation of the ruble, a debt default by the government, and a sharp deterioration in living standards for most of the population. The economy subsequently has rebounded, growing by an average of more than 6% annually in 1999-2001 on the back of higher oil prices and a weak ruble. This recovery, along with a renewed government effort in 2000 and 2001 to advance lagging structural reforms, have raised business and investor confidence over Russia's prospects in its second decade of transition. Yet serious problems persist. Russia remains heavily dependent on exports of commodities, particularly oil, natural gas, metals, and timber, which account for over 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Russia's industrial base is increasingly dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve sustainable economic growth. Other problems include widespread corruption, lack of a strong legal system, capital flight, and brain drain.

GDP purchasing power parity - $1.2 trillion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 5.2% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $8,300 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 7%
industry: 37%
services: 56% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 40% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 33.5% (2001 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 39.9 (2000)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 21.9% (2001 est.)

Labor force 71.3 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 10.8%, industry 27.8%, services 61.4% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate 8.7% (2001 est.), plus considerable underemployment

Budget
revenues: $45 billion
expenditures: $43 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts

Industrial production growth rate 5.2% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 835.572 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 66.14%
hydro: 18.89%
other: 0.31% (2000)
nuclear: 14.66%

Electricity - consumption 767.082 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 18 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 8 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk

Exports $103.3 billion (2001 est.)

Exports - commodities petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures

Exports - partners Germany 9.0%, US 7.2%, Italy 7.0%, Belarus 5.4%, China 5.1%, Ukraine 4.9%, Netherlands (2000)

Imports $51.7 billion (2001 est.)

Imports - commodities machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products

Imports - partners Germany 11.5%, Belarus 11.1%, Ukraine 10.8%, US 8.0%, Kazakhstan 6.5%, Italy 3.6% (2000)

Debt - external $157 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $8.523 billion (1995)

Currency Russian ruble (RUR)

Currency code RUR

Exchange rates Russian rubles per US dollar - 30.4669 (January 2002), 29.1685 (2001), 28.1292 (2000), 24.6199 (1999), 9.7051 (1998), 5,785 (1997)
note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Russia on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Russia Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Russia Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.