Is a western perspective the right one to judge Russia?
ByLine: By TAPAN DATTA
>From Mr Tapan Datta.
Sir, Quentin Peel argues ("Mistrust returns to disfigure Putin's
Russia", June 10) that Vladimir Putin's political illiberalism
"is no longer countered by much economic liberalism". He mentions
the failure to tackle the giant monopolies. Since reforms began after the
1998 crisis, most economists have regarded this phase of reform to be the
most difficult.
The achievements of the first Putin term have been considerable - a very
successful fiscal federalism that transformed public finances from their
hitherto chronic disarray, simplifying a Byzantine tax system and taking a
significant step towards establishing land and property rights. It is of
course right and proper that we should be demanding more - natural monopoly
reform, a reining back of the notorious Russian bureaucracy and doing
something about the anarchic banking sector, but there is reason to believe,
under the current economic policymakers around President Putin (German Gref
and Alexei Kudrin, in particular) that the trend of reform will remain in the
right direction, if sometimes disappointing in its pace.
Mr Peel has every right to bemoan the increasing centralisation of power
under Mr Putin from his vantage point of western liberal democracy, but one
wonders whether this is the right perspective from which to judge? As for Mr
Putin's recent state address which Mr Peel feels sounds ominous, my
take-away was rather different: the emphasis was resoundingly on meeting
Russians' basic needs - improving housing and healthcare, raising
educational standards and transport infrastructure improvements.
Tapan Datta, Director of Economics and Strategy, Emerging Markets, Schroders,
London EC2V 7QA
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