Students of Russian and Soviet history quickly learn the pivotal role that the railroads have played in the country’s economic development. In czarist times, it was the construction of the mammoth Trans-Siberian Railroad which opened up the Russian Far East, much as the completion of the transcontinental railroad had opened up the American West a few decades before.

In Soviet times, it was the rails that facilitated breakneck industrialisation, military…

As we reach the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism, Larry Sherwin reflects on the events of 1989

It was Russian business executive Alexei Mordashov who put it succinctly, jarring my own memory of the bad old days. At the Bank’s 2007 Business Forum in Kazan, he reminded the audience just how much had changed in Russia in a mere 20 years as he recounted the story of a…

Can something good come out of the crisis? Perhaps. Kazakhstan – battered by a sudden stop in bank funding and a lower oil price – recently announced updated industrialisation plans that seem more realistic than earlier versions. The stated goal is still to advance economic diversification and reduce the country’s dependence on oil. But with less oil money floating around, the government seems to have put its feet back on

…

We all know that most emerging market economies have limited policy room to deliver massive counter-cyclical crisis response. This affects their risk perception, investor confidence, and capital inflows. Indeed, most emerging markets have limited fiscal space (except for those with a war chest of international reserves such as China and several other Asian countries, or Chile in Latin America). Untraditional monetary policy/quantitative easing is constrained by concerns over the possible

…

‘Banker’ has recently become somewhat of a dirty word and ‘foreign banker’ a most reviled sub-species. Over the last months foreign banks have, amongst other things, been accused of abandoning some of the emerging markets that have contributed so much to their profitability over the last decade. When the going gets tough, so the story goes, foreign banks quickly cut back their lending abroad and refocus on domestic clients. Indeed,

…

Following the release of our latest growth forecasts for the EBRD countries of operations on Thursday, Reuters reported that emerging European currencies had retreated on “bearish EBRD forecasts.”

As the creators of these forecasts, we found this both flattering and dismaying. Flattering, because it is nice to be taken seriously. Dismaying, because it was not the reaction we had hoped for.

So, was the reaction justified? Or, to…

Authors: Piroska Nagy (-7149) and Stephan Knobloch (-7065), 5 May 2009.

New BIS data for the last quarter of 2008 show that BIS-reporting banks significantly reduced their asset holdings across major regions of the world. While in absolute terms most of the reduction took place in advanced countries, in relative terms, emerging markets were hit harder. Our region has thus far been least affected. Furthermore, the decline has been concentrated…

The debates among the G20 leaders about global architecture and the crisis response of the international institutions may seem abstract and removed from the concerns of most people. But the discussions are very real to those of us working in these institutions as we prepare to meet our key stakeholders at our Annual Meetings on May 15-16 in London.

The crisis has changed the way we operate. Today’s EBRD…

Welcome to the EBRD blog – an opportunity for you to communicate and connect directly with experts, partners and clients on issues of common interest to countries from central Europe to central Asia. This blog gives you the flexibility to build dialogue, share knowledge and exchange lessons learnt in an informal forum.

The blog will be launched in May 2009, and blog contributors will be added over time.