But Granville remains critical of the overall economic policy of the government. She says the rise in the price of oil helped ease budgetary problems. But she says in terms of economic policy, nothing has been achieved in 1999. Other analysts agree and say that, despite some success stories, there is little likelihood that growth can continue. Katinka Borysch is an analyst at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit.
Domestic demand remains extremely weak.
While the 1998 financial collapse triggered a resurrection of production industries this year, it took services and banks quite a while to start recovering. And the stock and bond markets, nearly dead after the crash, are still awaiting revival. In Russia's oil industry, the picture is suddenly very different. Prices were recently pushed to their highest in nine years, at nearly 26 dollars per barrel. Oilmen all around the world are enjoying fresh profits, but for Russia they come as a real windfall, as the country's producers are seeing not only higher prices, but also lower production costs.