Russia to Outgrow EU Economies

Mark Adomanis at Forbes calls out the Economist for repeatedly making news out of Poland’s economic performance, and pulls up some figures indicating that in fact it is Russia that looks to be the star performer this year.  Even by its own estimates, the country is on track to outgrow every European economy in 2012.  Poland currently outperforms Russia in terms of inflation, Adomanis says, but the EU’s economic failure has shattered ‘the aura of competence’ around European institutions, and may make potential member countries think twice.  How ironic, he says.

If, a decade ago, I stood up and said “ten years from now Russia will not only be significantly less democratic than it is today, it will also be growing faster than every single country in the European Union” I’d have been dragged off to a mad-house.  Putin’s cruel autocracy would have run out of steam by then, people would say, and the countries of “new Europe” would be confidently marching into the economic future. Oops.