the temptation to manage the structural restructuring of the economy can lead to the suppression of private initiative – Kommersant

Elvira Nabiullina, chairman of the Bank of Russia, said that the desire to manage the restructuring of the Russian economy could lead to the suppression of private initiative. According to her, business should decide for itself which projects to invest in.

“The temptation to manage the restructuring of the economy can lead to the fact that we will suppress private initiative, not to mention the risk, in the extreme case, of restoring the planned economy. It seems that this is impossible, because we have a market economy. But in fact, it’s enough for the state to concentrate the right to make decisions about what industries and what projects need to be developed and where to direct financial resources, ”said the head of the regulator on session within the SPIEF.

Ms. Nabiullina noted that in connection with the restructuring of the economy, there is a change in the ratio of sectors in the economy, which, in turn, led to an increase in domestic demand. “I think everyone understands that we are going through this now. This entails a redistribution of labor, investment, and so on. Restructuring of the economy is happening faster than we expected. The worst forecasts did not come true,” she added.

The head of the Bank of Russia did not agree with the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, who argued that the negative scenario was avoided due to cash infusions. According to Ms. Nabiullina, the main factor in the successful implementation of structural adjustment was the adaptation of “many thousands” of enterprises, which turned out to be “very flexible, nimble.”

Speaking about the future of the Russian economy, Elvira Nabiullina pointed to the need to move towards privatization. “I think that, of course, it should be privatized. We have something to privatize without prejudice to strategic interests,” she said.

The review of the monetary policy of the Bank of Russia indicated that the structural adjustment of the economy, as well as Western sanctions, make “significant adjustments to the assessment of the possibility of lowering the inflation target.” In the base scenario of the regulator, inflation will be 4.5-6.5% this year, and 4% in 2024. The Bank of Russia is also confident that the growth rate during the restructuring of the economy is significantly lower than it would be under normal conditions.

Read more about the scenario of a two-year economic recovery to a stable one – in the material “Kommersant” “Fell, woke up – growth”.