Interpreting the evolution of the monetary regime in Russia

Nenovsky N., Sahling C.

In the post-Soviet period, the Central Bank is the leading institution, a driving force towards a specific Russian model of market economy and capitalism. Monetary policy, its objectives and instruments are at the center of the struggle for redistribution of resources, assets and liabilities; the main mechanism for formation of new economic, financial and political actors. This chapter offers an investigation of the monetary policy of the Bank of Russia and its main influence factors. We reconstruct the evolution of Russian monetary policy for the last 30 years. We define the main groups involved in the conflict for control of monetary policy and rents. In this light, the different phases of transition and monetary policy have been dealt with the control of exchange rate, later the targeting of monetary base and, more recently (since 2014/15), inflation targeting. Attention is paid to the institutional inertia and to the history-dependent monetary regime, as the heritage of central banking under communism.

Keywords: central banking, monetary and fiscal policies, growth and poverty, currency crises, international financial architecture, perspectives of European integration, European Neighborhood Policy and political economy of transition, Emerging economy

In book

The Political Economy of Central Banking in Emerging Economies

Routledge, 2020.