SERGEY PRIKHODKO ON HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE STATE’S PARTICIPATION IN BUSINESS ACTIVITY

As stated by Kommersant.ru, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexei Kudrin proposed that in order to accelerate economic growth, state-owned companies should be privatized. In the opinion of Executive Director of the Gaidar Institute Sergey Prikhodko, the role of the state in the Russian economy is grossly overestimated.

In his article in the Company magazine, Alexei Kudrin noted that the state could be an efficient manager only during a crisis, and now it is the time to reduce its presence in the economy. According to the data that he cited, among Russia’s ten biggest companies only four are private. And among the top ten US companies, none is state-owned.

“In recent years, the opponents of the privatization idea, as a rule, have argued that but for the state, the Russian economy would have declined deeper during the pandemic. According to data released by Rosstat, last year it fell by slightly more than 3%, while, for example, the EU economy lost 6%. However, that is beside the point. We have already experienced other economic downfalls. By all indications, this year’s growth will make it possible for us to return to the 2019 level which, unfortunately, was not very successful, either. The case in point here is not the large share of the public sector. The structure of the economy is shaped by the substantial share taken up by production of fuel and energy resources, which sunk less during the crisis. And most importantly, the industry that was hit hardest around the world is the services sector. But that particular segment somewhat differs in the European Union and in this country,” Sergey Prikhodko noted.