Latest
news conference: A first short analysis
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“...
we proceed from the view that we have failed to achieve many of
the things that were planned and that needed to be done to
diversify the economy over the past 20 years. This was not easy,
if at all possible, given the foreign economic situation, which
was favourable in the sense that businesses were investing into
areas that guaranteed maximum and fast profits. This mechanism is
not easy to change.”
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It's
quite clear that Putin refers to the financialization of the economy,
started from the West the last four decades, and his intentions to
reverse this situation and probably decouple Russian economy from
this financial speculative economic model. However, Putin
acknowledges that this model is not easy to be changed because it has
been expanded quite fast in nearly every part of the world, including
Russia.
“Could
oil prices continue falling and would this influence our national
currency and consequently all the other economic indexes,
including inflation? Yes, this is possible. What do we intend to
do about this? We intend to use the measures we applied, and
rather successfully, back in 2008. In this case, we will need to
focus on assistance to those people who really need it and on
retaining – this is something I would like to highlight –
retaining all our social targets and plans. This primarily
concerns pensions and public sector salaries, and so forth.”
“Further
growth and a resolution of this situation are inevitable for at
least two reasons. One is that the global economy will continue to
grow, the rates may be lower, but the positive trend is sure to
continue. The economy will grow, and our economy will come out of
this situation. How long will this take? In a worst-case scenario,
I believe it would take a couple of years. I repeat: after that,
growth is inevitable, due to a changing foreign economic situation
among other things. A growing world economy will require
additional energy resources. However, by that time I have no doubt
that we will be able to do a great deal to diversify our economy,
because life itself will force us to do it. There is no other way
we could function. Therefore, overall, I repeat, we will
undoubtedly comply with all our social commitments using the
existing reserves. Fortunately, this year they have even grown.”
“I
would like to remind you that Central Bank reserves amount to $419
billion. The Central Bank does not intend to ‘burn’ them all
senselessly, which is right. The Government reserve, the National
Wealth Fund, the Reserve Fund have grown this year by about
2.4-2.5 trillion rubles to a total 8.4 trillion rubles. With these
reserves I am certain we can work calmly to resolve our main
social issues and to diversify the economy; and I will repeat that
inevitably the situation will return to normal.”
“How
soon will the economy adapt if the prices remain at the current
level or even go below 60 [USD/barrel], 40, or whatever? For us it
could be any figure, the economy would simply have to get
structured. How fast will this happen? This is hard to say. But it
is inevitable. I would like to highlight this. This will be a fact
of life.”
“As
we all know, only an insurance policy can give you confidence. The
main insurance for us here is the right macroeconomic policy and
reserve funds for resolving social issues. This is the kind of
insurance policy that would give us confidence.”
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Briefly,
Putin focuses on three issues here. The first issue is to retain the
social state under such a difficult situation, and here smartly
refers to this sector so that to show clearly the contradiction of
priorities of the Russian economy against the Western capitalist
countries. When crisis hit the West, the politicians-puppets have
chosen to rescue the financial sector with billions and "punish"
the majority through painful cuts in pensions and salaries or other
social benefits. Instead, Putin repeatedly refers to the need of
preserving the social benefits inside the current crisis, as top
priority.
The
second issue is the transformation of the Russian economy. Putin
clearly seeks a restructure for the economy, in order to develop
further various sectors and relief the weight from the oil-gas
sector which makes Russia more vulnerable in geopolitical-financial
games.
The
third issue is the turn of Russia to fast developing countries.
Apparently, Putin will seek further cooperation with China and India,
as being fast developing countries with increasing energy needs. As
he knows that the restructure of the economy will take time, Russia
could turn to these markets to sell huge amounts of energy resources.
Russia has a big advantage here due to its geographic position and
its participation in the BRICS. Actually, Putin wants to signal that
Russia is able to retain its social state through its reserves and
through new energy markets until the crisis is over and the
restructure of the economy completed.
“...
I think it is up to the Central Bank to decide whether to reduce
the interest rate or not, they should see and react accordingly.
They should not hand out our gold and foreign currency reserves or
burn them on the market, but provide lending resources. And they
are doing this as well.”
“The
agroindustrial complex is developing. I believe that by the end of
the year growth there will amount to 3.3 percent. As you may know,
this year we had a record crop of 104 million tonnes.”
“For
instance, the prices of petrol and food are something they should
work on. Moreover, the current situation, whatever anyone says,
requires a ‘hands on’ approach. They have to meet with
producers, those who are on the market, with retailers and with
the oil companies that have significantly monopolised the market.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service should function properly.”
“...
we must decide whether we want to keep going and fight, change our
economy – for the better, by the way, because we can use the
current situation to our own advantage – and be more
independent, go through all this or we want our skin to hang on
the wall. This is the choice we need to make and it has nothing to
do with Crimea at all.”
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As BRICS are in the processes to
decouple economies from the Western neoliberal monetary monopoly,
they could bring back the gold standard as a base for their
transactions, which is much more steady than the paper money
unstable financial bubbles. They are ready, because they are
emerging economies with billions of potencial consumer tanks and
can attract other countries too being victims of the international
financial mafia, like Argentina and Greece.
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Also,
this is another significant indication that Putin wants full autonomy
for the Russian economy and especially for the crucial food and
energy sectors. This could be done by decoupling it from the
neoliberal financialized system where even the basic foods become
subject of speculative games in stock markets, bringing further
hunger for millions in poor countries, and, by fighting the
monopolies which basically conquered the US and Europe.
“Didn’t
they tell us after the fall of the Berlin Wall that NATO would not
expand eastwards? However, the expansion started immediately.
There were two waves of expansion. Is that not a wall? True, it is
a virtual wall, but it was coming up. What about the anti-missile
defence system next to our borders? Is that not a wall? You see,
nobody has ever stopped. This is the main issue of current
international relations. Our partners never stopped. They decided
they were the winners, they were an empire, while all the others
were their vassals, and they needed to put the squeeze on them. I
said the same in my Address [to the Federal Assembly]. This is the
problem. They never stopped building walls, despite all our
attempts at working together without any dividing lines in Europe
and the world at large. I believe that our tough stand on certain
critical situations, including that in the Ukraine, should send a
message to our partners that the best thing to do is to stop
building walls and to start building a common humanitarian space
of security and economic freedom.”
“...
after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet
Union, Russia opened itself to our partners. What did we see? A
direct and fully-fledges support of terrorism in North Caucasus.
They directly supported terrorism, you understand? Is that what
partners usually do? I won’t go into details on that, but this
is an established fact. And everyone knows it.”
“...
I am referring to the power of nuclear deterrence. [...] We have
heard it even from high-level officials that it is unfair that the
whole of Siberia with its immense resources belongs to Russia in
its entirety. Why exactly is it unfair? So it is fair to snatch
Texas from Mexico but it is unfair that we are working on our own
land – no, we have to share. And then, when all the teeth and
claws are torn out, the bear will be of no use at all. Perhaps
they’ll stuff it and that’s all. So, it is not about Crimea
but about us protecting our independence, our sovereignty and our
right to exist.”
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Putin,
once again is very clear and understands the whole plan:
What we see in Ukraine is
probably another failure of various think tanks, mostly from
Washington, which they are funded, of course, by the international
capital. It seems that, apart from the fact that they have
underestimated Putin's abilities, they have also wrongly estimated
that Russia had passed permanently in the neoliberal phase and
would be ready to become an easy victim to promote their plans.
According to these plans, the ultimate goal would be probably to
dissolve the vast Russian territory in future and bring in power
Western-friendly puppet regimes, in order not only to conquer the
valuable resources, but also to impose permanently the neoliberal
doctrine on "unexplored" regions and populations.
Latest
numerous indications show that the US surround Russia, attempting
to isolate the country militarily, politically and economically.
The support of neo-nazis in Ukraine was aiming to drag Russia into
an attrition war in East Ukraine, for a start. Some analysts claim
that Washington's "hawks" prepare a nuclear "preventive"
strike against Russia because they believe that they can obviate
Russian or Chinese retaliation, using the anti-missile shield in
East Europe. Unfortunatelly, there are indications that this may
be possible. According to latest information, Washington proceeds
in actions to surround China as well. It is not accidental that
these revelations come after the recent big agreement between
Russia and China on the energy sector. According to some analysts,
the US transfer 60% of their naval forces to the Asian Pasific,
while they plan to build a similar "anti-missile" system
in the region.
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