Abstract

From 1989 to 1998 Russia experienced the transformational recession – GDP fell to 55 per cent of the pre-recession 1989 level. During the second transition decade, 1999–2008, the Russian economy was recovering at a rate of about 7 per cent a year and barely reached the pre-recession peak of 1989 (Figures 9.1 and 9.2). ² However, another recession – this time a cyclical one – followed, and Russian GDP fell by nearly 8 per cent in 2009. Only in 2012 was the country’s pre-recession (1989) GDP finally surpassed again. In sum, therefore, for two decades, there has been no overall increase in output.