Ooh, this is a little out of my territory. I know a bit about Russian business because I spent three years with a Russian business newspaper, but am sketchy on the broad picture.
Yes, most domestic equipment (with the big exception of arms) is out-of-date, I do know that light industry was one of the big growth sectors post-1998, but I do not know to what extent it recovered. Domestic production is currently being protected by the high euro-ruble exchange rate, as most of Russia's imports come from the EU. > > I'm talking about fixed produced means of production. If the machine tool (etc.) > industry in Russia is non-existent or produces obsolescent equipment, then either > all means of production need to be imported or industries that use > domestically-produced ones will be at a competitive disadvantage. Either way, that > means that Russia's economic growth (that's not based directly on > domestically-produced raw materials) is dependent on imports. > > Jim D. > >
