One of the most important factors that aided in the improvement of the Russian GDP is the high price for crude oil and trade surplus. The crude oil price set by OPEC has consistently been around U.S $25 per gallon since 1999 and Russia being one of the largest producers of oil has benefited immensely form it. Fortunately, the war in Iraq didn’t have any impact on the world oil prices however the likelihood of lower oil prices could have a detrimental effect on Russia’s GDP. Besides Oil, the other factors that have aided to the rise in GDP have been industry, agriculture, construction an

“The biggest amounts of fixed capital investments in 2002 went to the fuel sector, transport and the housing and communal services sector. According to data for 2002, these sectors accounted for 20.6%, 19.1% and 15.4% of the total value of fixed capital investment respectively (the respective percentages for 2001 were 22.1%, 23.1% and 13.3%).”

The external debt in 2000 amounted to US$144.4 billion (credits of US$90.8 billion and securities of US$53.6 billion), which was an improvement over the previous year’s debt of US$158.4 billion. The former Soviet Union’s debt in 2000 amounted to US$94.5 billion, which was 65.4% of that year’s gross external debt.

The exchange rate has been consistently increasing since the last five years. In 2002 the exchange rate against the U.S dollar was 30.47. In 2001 the exchange rate set by the Bank of Russia was 30.14, which was an increase of 7% over the previous years exchange rate of 28.16. The exchange rate in 1999 and 1998 against the U.S dollar were 27 and 20.65 respectively.

Russia’s total exports in the year 2002 of $104.6 billion far exceeded the previous years performance. “ The main export commodities in 2002 were petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures ” In the year 2001, the total exports in Russia were U.S $101.6 billion. The exports dropped by U.S $ 4 billion as compared to the year 2000. However, the years 2000 and 2001 fared much better than the previous two years. The year 1999 observed exports of U.S $75.7 billion and the exports in 1998 was U.S $74.9 billion.

Some topics in this essay:
United Germany, Trade Russia’s, Fiscal Policy, Russian GDP, Czech Republic, Inflation Russia, Besides Oil, Mikhail Kasyanov, Bank Russia, Soviet Union, exchange rate, fixed capital, external debt, debt 2000, russia 2001, trade surplus, gross domestic product, 2000 amounted, main import, total exports, fixed capital investment, capital investment, debt 2000 amounted, gross external debt, federal budget revenues,