Recently released economic data shows that Russia’s GDP fell short of expectations last year, while the federal budget required oil prices to maintain at $117 a barrel in order to balance out spending. Maybe Vladimir Putin should have let Dmitry Medvedev ride out a few of these rough years before jumping back into power. Also, it appears to be turning into a tradition – elections and periods of uncertainty in Russia are accompanied by very loose monetary policy, which is just one fiscal consequence of dysfunctional democratic institutions. From the excellent FT BeyondBrics blog:

GDP data published on Thursday show the economy grew at just 3.4 per cent in 2012, down from 4.3 per cent a year earlier, and well short of forecasts of around 3.6 per cent.