Page 42 - RusRPTMay19

first quarter of this year, up 9.8% compared with the same period last year, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has said, according to Xinhua. Trade between China and Russia surged in 2018, reaching $107.06bn, a 27.1 year-on-year increase, according to MOFCOM.
After recovering rapidly in 2017–2018, revenue from exports of goods and services, according to the balance of payments data of the central bank, was about the same as in the first quarter of this year. This applies both to the increase in energy prices raised by the rise in export prices and to exports of other goods and services. The import costs of goods and services were already at the same level as in the third consecutive quarter. This has been the case for imports over the last three quarters and for half a year in tourism. The current account surplus remained high in the first quarter and rose to over 7% of GDP in the last four quarters. The net inflow of private capital abroad rose to 4.5% of GDP in the last four quarters.
A new report from the Gaidar Institute paints a gloomy picture of Russia’s import substitution campaign. It argues that over the past four years Russia has failed to develop significant production of new types of machinery or raw materials that did not exist previously. Where Russian alternatives to imports exist, over 80% of the Russian enterprise managers surveyed said that these tend to be of lower quality and more expensive. The report’s authors find that the import substitution program is losing momentum. Whereas in mid-2015, 30% of first said they were reducing imports of foreign machinery, this proportion had fallen to 8% by the third quarter of 2018.
Exports from Russia to Azerbaijan experienced a 12.5-percent increase in 2018, rising to $1.7bn, while trade turnover between the countries climbed 13.8% to $2.4bn, according to the files released by the Russian Export Center (REC). "Azerbaijan is a modern, fast-paced country. That attracts Russian companies to implement joint economic projects. Over 750 joint companies run operations on Azerbaijan’s market, of, which around 300 have 100% Russian capital and more than 450 are in joint-venture format," Director General of the Russian Export Center Andrey Slepnev told TASS. Persistent efforts are made towards economic diversification and development of joint productions, he said. The establishment of the GAZ car assembly plant in Azerbaijan has become one of the results. The foundation stone laying was held this February for a new manufacture facility to produce commercial freight vehicles and special-purpose machinery.
The trade between Russia and Turkey in January-February 2019 constituted $3.88bn dropping by 10.1% year-on-year, Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) data showed Monday. Russian exports to Turkey came to $3. 202bn with a 13.3-percent decrease. Russian imports from Turkey came to $678.8mn with a 8.9-percent increase. During the reported period, Turkey's share in total Russia's foreign trade dropped from 4.3% last year to 3.9%.
42 RUSSIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com