Georgia woes batter Russia's economy

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By Raisa Sheynberg, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

MOSCOW | Russia's incursion into Georgia last month has accelerated a financial downturn, creating a credit crisis that could impact Moscow's increasingly muscular foreign policy.

The downturn began several months before the Aug. 8 escalation in the Caucasus and has as much to do with global trends and other political and economic developments as it does with Russia's actions in Georgia, specialists here say.

"There is a clear risk premium on Russia, but to say that Russia is unique is to ignore what the rest of the world is doing," said Erik DePoy, equity strategist at Alfa Bank, one of Russia's largest private banks. "The Russian market is not falling in isolation."

The RTS index, where Russia's most prominent and liquid companies such as natural-gas giant Gazprom are traded, has declined by 46 percent since its peak in May - 29 percent since August. The Central Bank of Russia has allowed the ruble to depreciate against the dollar and the euro, contributing to an already high inflation rate of 13 percent.

Additionally, the equity-risk premium on investments in Russia has reached a five-year high just above 15 percent - levels last seen at the height of the Yukos affair in 2003, when the Russian government arrested the head of a major oil company on trumped-up charges of tax evasion and forced the company into bankruptcy

The picture has clearly worsened since the fighting erupted inthe Caucasus. Estimates of capital outflow in the past month range between $15 billion and $20 billion.

Doug Rediker, a Russia specialist and former investment banker, now at the New America Foundation in Washington, said the ability to finance debt was more important than the stock market in terms of potential pressure on the Russian government.

"If the Chinese were to stop lending to the United States tomorrow, it would have a severe impact, but we would still have a pool of domestic funds available," Mr. Rediker said. "In Russia, they don't have the means to replace" global lenders.

"The Russian banking system is not developed enough to provide the long-term financing that companies need to grow."

Russia's financial woes mirror those of other resource-rich nations as commodity prices have declined. According to Goldman Sachs, the Brazilian Bovespa index has fallen by 37 percent since May.