The year 2009 and its results: Version of the OPORA Russia
Your assessment of the Russian economy in 2009
The current global crisis has dealt a serious blow on the Russian economy in 2009. The resultant shock from the plunge of the oil prices and the flight of foreign capital initially prompted the collapse of the raw materials segment of the local economy, and then the automotive sector and finally all the industries. Thereafter, the negative trends spilled over to the financial and banking segments and whole of the consumer goods market and services sector.
The impact(s) - pluses and minuses - of the crisis on your industry
The global economic recession has, undoubtedly, impacted gravely, and will still continue to impacting seriously for a long time to come on the development of the social sector of the economy, where my company, Intermedservice, operates. This is a high-tech medical services sector. The ‘positive aspect’ of this crisis is that non-competitive enterprises and flight-by-night companies are disappearing from the market. But the ‘negative fallouts’ are more and harder to deal with. Some of these problems in the medical and pharmaceutical business include the ruble depreciation, financial drought, difficult accessibility to personnel with the required qualifications, drop of about 36%-45% in demand for services, cartel-like price dumping collusions among insurance companies, offering health insurance services, etc. However, it is still possible for one to ‘catch a favorable wind’ in this crisis storm.
"The positive aspect of this crisis is that non-competitive and flight-by-night companies are disappearing from the market. But the negative fallouts are more and harder to deal with.”
Your assessment of the effectiveness of the anticrisis measures
The depth of the crisis and the speed of the economic recovery depend not so much on business, as on the professionalism and appropriateness of the government’s actions. The main positive achievement is that the government has been able to prevent the local banking system from collapsing, but, unfortunately, it has failed to ensure its normal functioning so that it can really restart granting loans to small and medium businesses on new and affordable terms — such as normal interest rates, favorable loan periods, unprejudiced approach to evaluation of collateralized assets, individual loan repayment schedules, etc.
Your organization’s achievements in 2009 and plans for 2010
There are no major achievements to speak about, as our company has spent lots of efforts and resources into fending off raiding attacks on the real estate properties housing our businesses. As to our plans for 2010, we plan to introduce new products and rebrand our company.
Your prognosis on the economy for 2010
Making a forecast is always a tricky affair, more so in times of unprecedented global economic crisis. So, instead of a forecast I would prefer to say a funny joke on the subject. The anecdote goes thus, “How can one establish a small-scaled business in Russia in 2010? Answer: All you need do is just buy a big company and wait for sometime.” And Russia laughs…
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