World Bank president praises Russian efforts in rebuilding economy
The World Bank president James Wolfensohn confirmed at a press conference in Krasnoyarsk recently that Russia is serious in its attempts to change over to a normally operating economy.
He said he had visited Russia before, but only now was he getting the impression that a real effort was being made to embrace the free market economy.
Russia is a big country and the transitional period in its economy has gone on for ten years, Wolfensohn noted, adding that results cannot be achieved in just five minutes. He said he could say with certainty that considerable economic growth was observed last year.
A large part of this success - though not all of it – was attributable to the stability in the price of raw materials, particularly with regard to oil. At the same time, he noted that it is not the figures, but what stands behind them, that count.
President Putin is solving the problems he is being presented with in a pragmatic manner, Wolfensohn concluded. He is looking to solve the fundamentals of the problems, not just papering over the cracks.
