Thomas Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times, argues in his latest op-ed that Russia has wasted the financial crisis. “Oil prices rebounded from $30 to $70 a barrel too quickly, so the pressure for Russia to really reform and diversify its economy is off,” writes Mr. Friedman. “The struggle for Russia’s post-Communist economic soul – whether it is going to be more OPEC than O.E.C.D., a country that derives more of its wealth from drilling its mines than from tapping its minds – seems to be over for now.”
On a related note, the World Bank released a report on Russia’s economy last week in Moscow. The World Bank predicts that Russia’s real GDP will contract by 7.9 percent this year and not return to pre-crisis levels until 2012 (at the earliest). Unemployment could rise to 13 percent. In its coverage of the report, The New York Times says Russia “has experienced the most extreme swing from growth to contraction of any large economy in the current downturn.”
According to Mr. Friedman, the country that uses the crisis “to make its population smarter and more innovative,” will not only survive, but thrive in the coming years. Unfortunately for its citizens, it looks as though Russia has a rough road ahead.
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