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The Milken Institute Review
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In the decade bookended by the collapse of the ruble in August 1998 and the global
economic crisis in 2008, Russia enjoyed the fastest growth in its history. Real GDP dou-
bled in just 10 years, and while this still left the country far behind the West in living
standards, the growth spurt raised hopes that Russia was finally putting the Soviet past
behind it. Declines in unemployment and poverty complemented rising productivity,
near-Asian rates of investment and a balanced government budget. Meanwhile, years of
current account surpluses permitted the accumulation of some $600 billion in foreign
currency reserves to protect the economy from the sort of crisis that laid it low in 1998.