Asta Pravilonytė

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Monday, 12 December 2011

The end of 2011 - political and economic changes in Russia?

 

 

Week lasting demonstrations in Russia is a protest against a possible electoral fraud. According to the statement of the Central Election Committee of Russian Federation prepared on the 5th of December, 2011, the preliminary results, those represent 95 % of the overall counted votes of Russian Legislative Election, 2011, were the following: representatives of United Russia got 49.54% of total votes, Communist Party of the Russian Federation received 19.16%, A Just Russia collected 13.22%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia got 11.66%, Yabloko received 3.3%, Patriots of Russia gathered 0.97% and Right Cause got 0.59%. However, citizens expressed mistrust in counted votes and dissatisfaction with the dominated United Russia party.

Could it be that a long lasting protest lift the prices of energy resources and diminish value of domestic corporations? Similarly, could a shift in political influence be a reason of transformation of state’s corporations?

 

According to the Balance of Payment of the Russian Federation for January-September of 2011, the estimated $73.6 billion of Current Account’s surpluses are mainly emerged from the oil, oil products and natural gas exports those amount $249.1 billion and represent an increase of 36.34% compared to the data of the previous year. As can be seen from the data of the Key World Energy Statistics, 2011 published by the International Energy Agency, Russian Federation was the largest producer in the world of crude oil in 2010. The production of crude oil, NGL, feedstocks, additives and other hydrocarbons in Russia amounted 502 Mt, which comprised 12.6% of the total world production in 2010. The other largest producers were Saudi Arabia with the annual production of 471 Mt which represented 11.9 % of the total world production and United States with the annual production of 336 Mt and 8.5% of the total world production in 2010. So, long lasting political instability in the country could affect the supply and market prices of energy resources.

Moreover, The World Trade Organization’s Working Party sealed the deal on Russia’s membership negotiations on the 10th of November 2011. The Working Party will send its accession recommendations regarding Russia’s terms of entry to the Ministerial Conference. It is expected that during the conferece held on the 15-17 December the Russia’s WTO membership will be approved. Consequently, Russia’s commitments to pursue open, transparent and non-discriminatory global trading could encourage investment and a new round of privatization of state’s corporations.