What Type of Economy Does Russia Have?
The economy of Russia is a market-based and global economy. Economic reforms that took place in 1990 has lead to privatized industries.
The Russian economy had a more socialist structure when they were controlled by the Soviet Empire. Since the fall of the Soviet Empire, a middle class emerged for the first time. Since Russia relied so much on commodities to be exported to them, they were very vulnerable to the economic crisis that took place in 2008. They experienced a steep fall in the global demand, a tightening of credit, and commodity prices almost brought Russia’s economy to a halt. They have since begun to recover.
Russia is considered one of the most industrialized republics of the former Soviet Union. The Russian industry is still considered highly inefficient because of years of low quality investment. Russia has a resource-based industry. They’ve also developed a large manufacturing capacity that includes metals, food products and transportation equipment. Russia is now considered the world’s third-largest exporter of primary aluminum and steel. Russia does still have many import barriers from their Soviet Union days. They often use non-tariff barriers to restrict foreign access to their market. It’s considered a constant strain on their Russian World Trade Organization negotiations.
