Is Russia Headed For Slower Growth

Sources: “Role reversal at IMF as the rich come under fire” ;
“Next Year Could Bring Instability, Warns IMF”

The International Monetary fund (IMF) believes Russia’s growth in 2008 will be lower than originally thought. High oil prices, capital inflows and productivity gains helped Russia avoided the risks of the instable global financial markets this year. However, analysts believe that the market turbulence in foreign and domestic financing in the coming year will have a larger effect on Russia’s economy than the current year.

On a similar note, the IMF’s semi-annual meeting has a different tone because of the subprime mortgage crisis. While the meetings typically involve Europeans and Americans directing poor countries to modernize their capital markets, promote transparency and adhere to sound investment standards, the theme of the current meeting is the global impact of the subprime mortgage crisis. Further, many pundits argue that the failures in regulatory supervision caused the subprime mortgage crisis.

Questions for discussion: Do you think that international growth in 2008 will slow down, compared to the current year, as a result of the turbulent foreign and domestic financing markets? Further, are developing countries becoming more of a driving force and stabilizing factor in the world economy?