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Russia's finance ministry has developed a new dynamism under Anatoly Chubais. Confidence in his commitment to reform, privatization and a tight fiscal and monetary policy have led to a surge in investment by foreign fund managers and direct strategic investors. The performance of the capital markets is impressive: equity prices are up more than 185% for the year to date. They appreciated by 20% in August alone, making Russia the world's top-performing stock market.
"The ministry of finance has become the most sophisticated part of the entire central government," says Aleksandr Tolchinsky, a director of Credit Suisse First Boston and one of the leading investment bankers in Russia. "In terms of professionalism, dealing with foreign investors, or even the English language ability of their staff, they run an extremely smooth, polished operation."
Chubais's appointment in March as finance minister and first deputy prime minister made him the third-ranked official in the Kremlin behind president Boris Yeltsin and prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.