Russia-Economic and political outline

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Published: 06 Oct 2008 17:47:25 PST

Economic indicators

GDP Indicators	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (billions USD)	591.861	764.068	984.925	1223.735	1480.18
GDP (constant prices, annual % change)	7.2	6.4	6.7	7	6.5
GDP per capita (USD)	4104.444	5324.519	6897.232	8611.672	10467.503
General government balance (in % of GDP)
Inflation rate (%)	10.9	12.7	9.7	8.1	7.5
Unemployment rate (% of the labor force)	8.6	8.6
Current Account (billions USD)	8.6	8.6
Current Account (in % of GDP)	59.514	84.443	95.322	72.543	49.181

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database

Note: (e) Estimated data

Breakdown of economic activity by sector	Agriculture	Industry	Services
Value added (annual % change)	2.907091	6.861551	7.84757
Value added (in % of GDP)		35.17	59.79
Employment by sector(in % of total employment)	10%	31.3%	58.7%

Source: - last available data.

Foreign Trade in figures

Foreign trade indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Imports of goods (millions USD)	60965.79	76069.69	97382.09	125434.1	164692
Exports of goods (millions USD)	107301.2	135929.3	183207.2	243798.2	303926
Imports of services (millions USD)	23497.05	27122.17	33732.3	39434.87	45268.3
Exports of services (millions USD)	13610.69	16228.63	20355.77	24593.23	30339.96
Imports of goods and services (annual % change)	14.57973	17.7	22	17.3	20.15156
Exports of goods and services (annual % change)	10.26352	12.5	11.8	6.3	4.276978
Trade Balance (millions USD)	46335.36	59859.58	85825.14	118364.1	139234
Current Account (millions USD)	29115.94	35410.02	59003.13	83835.86	94466.56
Foreign trade (in % of GDP)	59.64545	58.97215	56.50131	56.63017	58.97215
Imports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	24.43285	23.81524	22.13678	21.53274	20.22048
Exports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	35.21259	35.15691	34.36453	35.09743	33.30015

Source:

To see more products: More imports (Intracen Data)
More exports (Intracen Data)

Sources of economic information

Economic Organizations: Goskomstat
Russian Central Bank
Russian Trading System
Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange
Ministries: Gouvernement Russe
Ministère de l'Agriculture
Ministère du Développement économique et du Commerce
Online newspapers: St Petersburg Times
The Moscow Times
Kommersant
Expert (in Russian)
RIA-Novosti (in French)
Search Engines: Russia on the Net
Atrus
Radio Free Liberty
Rambler
Russia.com
Spravki.net
Tela
Yandex
Economic portals

Political outline

Executive Power: The President is the Head of State. He is elected by universal suffrage for four years. He is the commander-in-chief of the army and is the real center of power in the country. The Prime Minister is the head of the government. He is appointed by the President, with the approval of the lower house of Parliament, and manages the everyday business of the country.
Legislative Power: Russia has a two-chamber legislative power. The Parliament, called the Federal Assembly, is composed of: the Council of the Federation (upper chamber), which has 78 seats and the members are appointed by the regional governors and legislative institutions, for a four-year term of office; and the State Douma (lower chamber), which has 450 seats; its members are elected by direct universal suffrage from partisan lists, for a four-year term.
Main political parties: Russia is a State with one dominant party - United Russia (a centrist party) which is in power. Opposition parties are authorized but they do not really have any chance of gaining power. The other important parties in the country are:
- The CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) a nationalist and communist party;
A Just Russia (born of the merger between Rodina, the Russian Life party and the Russian Pensioners' party in 2006) - a center-left party, an ally of United Russia;
The LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) - an extreme right nationalist political party;
- The SPS (Union of right-wing forces) - associated with reforms leading towards the free market economy and privatization, it supports western-style capitalism.
Current political leaders: President: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (since May 2000, re-elected in March 2004 and re-elected in Mai 2008) – independent
Prime Minister: Victor Alexeïevitch ZOUBKOV (since 14 septembre 2007) – United Russia
Next election dates: Presidential election: March 2012