RUSSIA INFLATION RATE

The inflation rate in Russia was last reported at 8.8 percent in December of 2010. From 1991
until 2010, the average inflation rate in Russia was 175.36 percent reaching an historical high of
2333.30 percent in December of 1992 and a record low of 5.50 percent in July of 2010. Inflation
rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power. The
most well known measures of Inflation are the CPI which measures consumer prices, and the
GDP deflator, which measures inflation in the whole of the domestic economy. This page
includes: Russia Inflation Rate chart, historical data and news.

INFLATION RATE DEFINITION 

In mainstream economics, the word “inflation” refers to a general rise in prices

measured against a standard level of purchasing power

RUSSIA GDP GROWTH RATE

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Russia expanded 2.70 percent in the third quarter of 2010
over the same quarter, previous year. Unlike the commonly used quarterly GDP growth rate the
annual GDP growth rate takes into account a full year of economic activity, thus avoiding the
need to make any type of seasonal adjustment. From 1995 until 2010, Russia's average annual
GDP Growth was 3.27 percent reaching an historical high of 12.00 percent in December of 1999
and a record low of -10.80 percent in June of 2009. This page includes: Russia GDP Growth
Rate chart, historical data and news.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 

In the political system established by the 1993 constitution, the president wields
considerable executive power. There is no vice president, and the legislative branch is
far weaker than the executive. The bicameral legislature consists of the lower house
(State Duma) and the upper house (the Federation Council). The president nominates
the highest state officials, including the prime minister, who must be approved by the
Duma. The president can pass decrees without consent from the Duma. He also is
head of the armed forces and of the Security Council.

Duma elections were held most recently on December 2, 2007, and presidential
elections on March 2, 2008. The pro-government party, United Russia, won a
constitutional majority (more than two-thirds) of the seats in the Duma. Of the three
other parties that won seats in the Duma, two of them--Just Russia and the Liberal
Democratic Party--are considered to have a pro-Kremlin orientation. The final party
represented in the Duma--the Communist Party--is the only opposition party. The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights did not observe the Duma elections because of
restrictions placed on the observer mission by the Government of Russia and delays in
issuing visas. Parliamentarians of the OSCE and the Council of Europe who observed
the elections concluded that they were "not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and
Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections." They noted
that the elections took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political
competition. Frequent abuses of administrative resources, media coverage strongly in
favor of United Russia, and the revised election code combined to hinder political
pluralism.

Dmitriy Medvedev, running as United Russia's candidate, was elected to a four-year

term as President on March 2, 2008, with 70.28% of the vote. The Russian constitution
does not allow presidents to serve more than two consecutive terms. A December 2008
law extended the terms of Duma deputies from four to five years and presidential terms
from four to six years. The new terms take effect with the next elections, which for the
Duma are scheduled to occur in December 2011 and for President in March 2012.

Russia is a federation, but the precise distribution of powers between the central
government and the regional and local authorities is still evolving. The Russian
Federation consists of 84 administrative units, including two federal cities, Moscow and
St. Petersburg. The constitution explicitly defines the federal government's exclusive
powers, but it also describes most key regional issues as the joint responsibility of the
federal government and the regional administrative units. In 2000, President Putin
grouped the regions into seven federal districts, with presidential appointees established
in Moscow and six provincial capitals. In March 2004, the Constitution was amended to
permit the merger of some regional administrative units. A law enacted in December
2004 eliminated the direct election of the country's regional leaders. Governors are now
nominated by the president and subject to confirmation by regional legislatures.

Political parties and leaders :

A Just Russia [Sergey MIRONOV]; Communist Party of the Russian
Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich
ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Patriots of Russia [Gennadiy SEMIGIN]; Right
Cause [Leonid Yakovlevich GOZMAN, Boris Yuriyevich TITOV, and
Georgiy Georgiyevich BOVT] (formed from merger of Civic Force,
 Democratic Party of Russia, and Union of Right Forces); United
Russia [Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN]; Yabloko Party [Sergey
Sergeyevich MITROKHIN]

HISTORY
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge
from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to
gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th
century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across
Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was
extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire.
During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and
Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the
Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other
reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led
to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the
overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir
LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif
STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of
the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and
society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail
GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika
(restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives
inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into
Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its
post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian
state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national
elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent
management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled
a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the
North Caucasus.

FLAGE DISCRIPTION

three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red

 
note: the colors may have been based on those of the Dutch flag; despite
many popular interpretations, there is no official meaning assigned to the
colors of the Russian flag; this flag inspired other Slav countries to adopt
horizontal tricolors of the same colors but in different arrangements, and so
red, blue, and white became the Pan-Slav colors.