World
Russia Seeks Indivisible Working Relationship With IMF
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
After several years of mounting fierce criticisms over the operations and performance of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] and consistently advocating for its structural reforms, Russia has reversed its position to get back into and strengthen its position with this multilateral financial organization. With the current geopolitical shift which is reshaping the world’s economic architecture, Russia has been [re]prioritising its association by a fresh announcement over an appointment of a representative with the IMF.
In February 2024, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] endorsed Russia’s macroeconomic programmes, further describing them as admirable steps, and primarily with pivotal development initiatives which is integral to its broader strategy for transforming an ambitious modern economy. In fact, IMF director Kristalina Georgieva upgraded the forecast for Russia’s growth. Reports have also indicated that Russia was on the right path to achieve more and maintain its 4th position in the rankings. The IMF doubled its forecast for Russian growth in 2024, boosting its prediction from 1.1% to 2.6% in January. And that marks the biggest jump for the former Soviet republic, Russia.
On the other hand, Russian economic conditions are starting to look more and more like the country’s 20th-century predecessor, where high production levels clashed with weak demand. “That is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like,” Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova, a Bulgarian economist serving as the 12th managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019, said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “High level of production, low level of consumption. I think that the Russian economy is [in] for very tough times, because of the outflow of people and because of the reduced access to technology that comes with the sanctions.”
Recognizing the importance of multinationals, in late September 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, by signing an executive order, instructed Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who is International Monetary Fund Governor for the Russian Federation, to nominate Ksenia Yudaeva for election as Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF. Without a doubt, the sanctioned former central banker will now become Russia’s IMF representative.
Local Russian media reported that Yudaeva, a former Central Bank of Russia’s first deputy governor, could become Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF. It further said Alexei Mozhin had been Russia’s permanent representative at the IMF since the 1990s. Back in 1991, when Yegor Gaidar led the government, he headed a new department for liaison with international financial organizations, and he became Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF in 1996. Data shows that Russia joined the IMF on June 1, 1992.
Mozhin has served as the Dean of the IMF Executive Board since 2014 as the Fund’s oldest active member. This status carries with it certain functions, for example, the Dean makes announcements on behalf of the board on the selection and appointment of the IMF Managing Director. The IMF Board of Governors suspended the role of Dean in March 2022, in connection with the events in Ukraine.
In a related development in establishing a working relationship between Russia and the IMF, the September 2024 media briefing of the IMF report indicated that Article IV Consultations with Russia would resume in line with the obligations and would hold bilateral discussions with the Russian authorities. This would include meeting with some different stakeholders to discuss the country’s economic developments, prospects, and policies.
During the upcoming visit to Russia, there are arrangements to meet with Ksenia Yudaeva, the next Executive Director from Russia in the IMF. “Actually, in the case of Russia, since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the economic situation has been exceptionally unsettled, which has made it difficult to anchor Article IV Consultations, especially thinking about the outlook and policy frameworks for both the near- and the medium-term. Now that the economic situation is more settled, Article IV Consultations with Russia are resuming, in line with the obligations of both the Fund and the member country,” Julie Kozack, Director of the Communications Department, IMF, told the media briefing on September 12, 2024.
Quite a bit in the past time, Russia has made an irreversible decision to suspend its membership and future participation in a number of multinational organizations and institutions, and highly disparaging them instead of mutually cooperating on needed reforms within the context of the emerging multipolar system. With the dominance of the United States and its concept of democracy, Russia has also spearheaded the formation of anti-western antagonistic tendencies and trends across the world. The world is largely now drawn into either creating an interactive, fairer multipolar world or the group against Western hegemony.
Reports monitored by this author indicated that Russia has already exited, following the historic fall of the Soviet era, from international organizations and multinational institutions. It has urged many leaders in Latin America, Asia and Africa to vehemently oppose conservative Western-style rules-based order and hegemony. Remarkable, during these past few years, many countries from these regions have increasingly shown diverse interests in joining BRICS+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), an informal association with a virtual secretariat, attempting to institutionalize South-South cooperation and taking radical steps entirely working towards improving the situation in the Global South.
BRICS+ established its New Development Bank in 2015, as an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank. Its primary aim is to compete with these multinational financial institutions, offer interest-free loans and invest heavily in developing countries. At the 6th BRICS summit in July 2014, the BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) announced the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) with an initial size of $100 billion, a framework to provide liquidity through currency swaps in response to actual or potential short-term balance-of-payments pressures. It has yet to measure or assess the visible impact it has made since its establishment in 2015.
The IMF works to stabilize and foster the economies of its member countries by its use of the fund, as well as other activities such as gathering and analyzing economic statistics and surveillance of its members’ economies. The recurrent challenge has been to promote and implement a policy that reduces the frequency of crises among emerging market countries, especially middle-income countries which are vulnerable to massive capital outflows. It supported Russia during the 1998 Russian financial crisis, from spreading and threatening the entire global financial and currency system. According to official reports, four emerging market countries (Brazil, China, India, and Russia) are among the ten largest members of the IMF. Other top 10 members are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
The Arab Republic of Egypt, a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and the southwest corner of Asia, has a highly strategic location and attracts multifaceted interests of foreign players. For decades, Russia has established diplomatic relations with Egypt and has consistently sustained diverse ties with this country. It is no secret that Russia’s lust for the region is primarily due to the strategic importance of the Mediterranean Sea for investment and economic cooperation with the Maghreb region.
Determined to strengthen, particularly, economic cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained regular contacts with his colleague, President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, mostly discussing both bilateral cooperation and broader regional developments. The current world’s geopolitical development, for instance, the United States-Israeli war on Iran in the Middle East, constitutes one theme both leaders frequently review, attempting to find long-term solutions.
On April 2, Putin met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration, and Egyptian Expatriates of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty, in the Kremlin – the seat of Russia’s presidency. In attendance during the official talks on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, while Egypt was represented by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Russian Federation Hamdy Shaaban. Ultimately, there is no need to overstate the importance of this meeting.
Russia’s footprints are expanding in Egypt, highlighting the growing industrial investment and the strengthening of bilateral manufacturing ties by undertaking projects to ensure energy security. At the same time, maintaining regular dialogue remains very important for both leaders.
Putin, speaking with the three-member delegation in the Kremlin, underlined the fact that there are many promising initiatives underway, many of which are already being implemented. He has previously spoken in detail about the construction of a nuclear power plant and the construction of an industrial zone, and over ten major Russian companies have expressed interest in participating in this project.
Nuclear Plants in El-Dabaa, Egypt
The construction of nuclear plants in the city of El-Dabaa, about 320 kilometres northwest of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, and will have four VVER-1200 reactors, making Egypt the only country in the region to have a Generation III+ reactor. On November 19, 2015, Egypt and Russia signed an initial agreement, under which Russia agreed to build and finance Egypt’s first nuclear power plant. These are now being carried out, not as a charity project, but with a loan of $28 billion. According to reports, Russia will finance 85% as a state loan of $25 billion, and Egypt will provide the remaining 15% in the form of instalments. The Russian loan has a repayment period of 22 years, with an annual interest rate of 3%.
At the meeting, Putin also raised the construction of an industrial zone in Egypt. There are many appealing and related opportunities in this, regarding having an industrial zone to be located on the banks of the Suez Canal. The industrial zone is also entering a new phase, as Russian auto-manufacturing enterprises are advancing distinctive plans to expand local vehicle production, reinforcing the country’s role as a regional manufacturing hub. The move reflects broader economic linkages between Russia and Africa, particularly in industrial development and supply chain integration.
Conveying Greetings and Reviewing the Middle East Situation
Naturally, the situation in the region remains a shared concern, according to Putin, and further hope that the ongoing conflict will be promptly resolved. “As you know, President Trump also addressed this issue yesterday. Let me reiterate that we are prepared to make every effort to help stabilise the situation and, as they say in such cases, return it to normal,” he stressed during the meeting. In this context, it is particularly important to know Egypt’s assessment as a key country in the Middle East.
Putin reminded the delegation of another Russia-Africa summit, which is planned for October 2026. With high hopes that Egypt will be represented by a strong, high-level delegation. Should the Egyptian President’s schedule allow, he would, of course, ahead of the summit, be very pleased to welcome him to Moscow. Jointly chaired by Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the first Russia-Africa summit, an important acute phase of the developments with Africa, under the motto of ‘For Peace, Security and Development’, was held for the first time in October 2019, in Sochi, a city located on the Black Sea coast. The idea to hold a Russia-Africa forum was initiated by President Putin at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Johannesburg in July 2018.
The head of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, as traditionally expected, conveyed greetings from President El-Sisi to the Russian president and handed over a written message. President el-Sisi places great value on all aspects of the bilateral cooperation, and is extremely grateful for constructive collaboration on the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, which represents a key milestone in the partnership. Despite the challenges, it is evident that the project is moving forward and will be completed by 2028.
In summary, as Egypt and Russia are reliable and time-tested partners, Putin plans to promote strategic projects, particularly in trade, economics, energy, and food security. With over 107 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world, the third-most populous country in Africa, and the 15th-most populous in the world.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In an interview, Senator Mushahid Hussain, President of Pakistan-Africa Institute for Development and Research (PAIDR), explicitly offers a few important insights into the US-Israeli war on Iran and its implications for BRICS+ and Africa. Here are the interview excerpts:
What’s your interpretation of the US-Israel war on Iran, in the context of developments in the Middle East region?
The US-Israel illegal and unwarranted war on Iran was spearheaded by [Benjamin] Netanyahu (Prime Minister of Israel) and actively supported by [Donald] Trump (President of USA) as a Joint Operation with three fundamental goals: a) decimate the Islamic Revolutionary Regime; b) reshape the Middle East as part of Zionism’s ‘Greater Israel’ Project; c) preclude any possibility of establishing a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.
What is your assessment of Iran’s joining BRICS+ in 2025, China’s and Russia’s roles as members of this association, in this US-Israel war with Iran?
China and Russia have played, by and large, a low-key diplomatic role in supporting Iran but without any active political initiatives. BRICS is divided from within, as India is keen to curry favour with the USA and avoids close association with BRICS since the time that Trump attacked BRICS last year. But China & Russia are clear political beneficiaries of the war as American prestige is at an all-time low, having got entangled in an unwinnable war, resulting in weakening of the US ‘sole superpower’ image.
As an Asian expert, how would you characterise Africa’s reactions? And do you think that reactions were objectively authentic, basing perspectives broadly on Arab and Middle East contributions to Africa’s development?
Africa’s reactions to the war are primarily through the prism of the Global South, viewing Iran as resisting American-Israeli hegemonic designs, as, for example, manifested in two examples: South Africa’s rejection of American pressures to wean South Africa away from its support for Iran. Plus, Somalia joined Pakistan and China in supporting the Russian resolution in the UN Security Council seeking an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to halt the War, despite strident Western/US opposition to the Russian resolution.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Director-General (DG) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the global trading system is experiencing the worst disruptions in the past 80 years.
The trade body chief warned about the consequences as the WTO ministerial conference opened Thursday in Cameroon.
“The world order and the multilateral system we know has irrevocably changed,” she said, adding: “We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today.”
The organisation’s 166 members appear deeply divided as trade ministers gather in the Cameroonian capital for the WTO’s top conference, amid global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war.
Over four days in Yaounde, WTO members will try to revitalise an institution weakened by geopolitical tensions, stalled negotiations, and rising protectionism — against the backdrop of the war in the Middle East, which poses a serious threat to international trade.
“The scale of the problems confronting the world today, even before the conflict in the Gulf, destabilised trade in energy, fertiliser and food,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said.
“National governments and international institutions alike have been struggling to navigate rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying climate pressures, and rapid technological change.
“Accompanying these shifts has been an increasingly loud questioning of multilateralism,” she added.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said these disruptions were just one symptom of broader upheavals shaking the international order created after World War II to prevent a repeat of the disasters of the first half of the 20th century.
“It feels appropriate that at the moment when the world is in turmoil with conflict in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, at this time of great disruption and uncertainty, we have gathered in Africa to discuss the road ahead for the global trading system,” she said.
“Africa is the continent of the future.”
WTO ministerial conferences are typically held every two years. The current edition in Yaounde is the second to be held in Africa, after Nairobi (Kenya) in 2015.
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