Russia’s foremost economist Sergey Glazyev has frequently – and vocally – criticized the policies of Russia’s central bank under Elvira Nabiullina, both for failing to adequately channel productive credit into high-tech industrialization projects, and for allowing capital flight out of Russia due to inadequate capital and exchange controls – problems which are two sides of the same coin.
Last Thursday the Russian central bank issued a study which reported that there has indeed been substantial capital flight in recent years, although the rate dropped off some in the first quarter of 2023. Sputnik reported on the central bank announcement: “The figure [for capital flight] was estimated at $21 billion in the first three months of 2023, which is about 40% less than in the last quarter of 2022, when it was $36 billion, the regulator said in a note. The outflow was 3.7 times lower than the same period last year, when it reached $77 billion.
