The national statistics authority, Rosstat, reported that the economy growth in the second quarter of the current year made only 1.2%. The rate is much lower than forecasted, the Ministry of Economic Development said. Experts do not rule out a collapse early next year. Foreign analysts say Russia has been in a recession.
“Russia is entering a recession,” experts of Capital Economics, an independent research company, say, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. The GDP growth in the second quarter turned out to be not only worse than expected, but, as foreign analysts say, reflected the state of the economy, which has entered the stage of recession. Several days earlier, Rosstat published early estimates of the economic growth. In the second quarter, the country’s GDP grew by 1.2% year-on-year. This means the economic growth is slowing down, as in the first quarter the rate was 1.6% year-on-year. The year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2012 was 4.3%.
Thus, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes in another article, year 2013 may become the worst over past 14 years after the 2009 crisis.
Since the Russian Federation considers as official the data from Rosstat, which has reported lowering of the GDP in the first quarter against the fourth quarter of 2012 by 0.1%, the recently published report from Rosstat proves technically the recession process in the country’s economy in the first quarter, the Kommersant says. However, it is so minor, that Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev told the newspaper the following: “We do not have recession.” His deputy, Alexei Klepach, on Friday commented on the situation calling it a continuation of stagnation and said that in the third quarter the ministry expects the GDP to grow (which apparently would mean technical overcoming of the recession/stagnation).
“If the economic slump continues with similar rates and oil prices go down, this is expectable in the unfavorable global economic situation, a crisis in Russia may begin already in the first quarter of the coming year,” the Novye Izvestia quotes as saying a leading economist of the Development Centre at the Higher School of Economics, Valery Mironov. “The problem is affected by an unusual growth of the state expenses, including those on the Armed Forces. That would be not a crisis of debt, like the one in Europe, but a crisis of the government’s too big social promises,” Russia is demonstrating records of falling down.
A hundred thousand users sign petition against “anti- pirate law”
The Internet site of the Russian Public Initiative collected 100,000 signatures in support for the petition to abolish the anti-pirate law. This would mean that the State Duma deputies will now have to revise and amend the law. However, experts say the authorities are not likely to consider the public opinion.
The signature number one thousand was put a month and one weak from the beginning, and the record day was August 1 - the national day of an Internet-based strike, the RBC daily reports. On that day, 13,500 users left their signatures. Leader of the Roscomsvoboda project Artem Kozlyuk points out that only 345 users have voted against the initiative, which is only 0.3 percent of those who voter “pro.”
A member of the State Duma’s information policy and technologies commission, Robert Shlegel, confirmed he supported the initiative. “It is correct that the anti-pirate law was adopted without consideration of many suggestions, and the petition will be helpful in the law’s further improvement. For example, there should be changes to the mechanisms of pre-trial settlements of disputes between copyright owners and site; the claims should be filed to copyrights courts, not to the Moscow City Court. Generally speaking, there are many addendums, which had been ignored, and which now should be reflected in the document,” he told the newspaper.
A popular blogger, Deputy Director General of the United Media Company Anton Nosik said the text of the petition would be considered only formally to be thrown afterwards to the bin, the Novye Izvestia writes. “The law was adopted not for the true order in the sphere, but exclusively in the interests of commercial companies. Thus addendums or even an abolishment are out of question. However, it is important that we have collected a great number of non-indifferent people, who spoke against that law,” Nosik told the newspaper.