Reforms are crucial to recovery

Russia: Fairy tale ending or start of a nightmare?

Real estate: Rebuilding a house of cards

Russia urgently needs to reform its economy if it is to stage a sustainable recovery from the twin ills of the global credit crunch and associated economic slowdown.

That’s the clear message from market participants, many of whom view the recent recovery in Russia’s capital markets as a temporary respite. “The reality on the ground is that growth, industrial output and investment are still declining fast,” says Bernie Sucher, head of Merrill Lynch Securities in Russia.