Economic Survey of Russia 2009: Improving regulation in Russia's goods and services markets
The results of estimating the OECD’s product market regulation (PMR) indicators suggest that, despite improvements in some areas, many aspects of Russia’s regulatory framework are still restrictive and economic performance could be enhanced by bringing regulation into line with best practice. In particular, the scores indicate that reducing the role of the state enterprise sector in markets that are inherently competitive and reinvigorating efforts to liberalise foreign trade and direct investment regimes would benefit economic performance. In some network sectors, recent regulatory changes have improved the scope for competition. However, ongoing work needs to focus on separating competitive and monopoly market segments and eliminating barriers to entry. In addition, the authorities need to develop the capacity and strengthen the hands of the sectoral regulators. Introducing an overarching competition policy would also help bring the issue of competition to centre stage and spread a competition ethos through different levels of government.
Long abstract