Russia's trade surplus SURGES to 133B$

[Dennis 8,391]

Russia's trade surplus quadrupled to 133B$, mainly driven by a 41% rise in exports to China and 57% increase in exports to Germany.
EU's biggest economy today is paying Putin a lot more money than they did before the war and refusing to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine.

 

[Shipper 13,114]

Im just waiting for China to make a move on a country in Asia and boom it is WWIII.

[PunkTheFunk 125,703]

[Dennis 8,391]

4 hours ago, Shipper said:

Im just waiting for China to make a move on a country in Asia and boom it is WWIII.

Russia's success will only encourage China to replicate it with Taiwan.

Invade Taiwan, cause semiconductors prices to surge while controlling the monopoly of it.

By being weak on Ukraine the west is just making WW3 more likely now.

[TheSlash 14,539]

As a German I don't support how our country acts like in this war. I decided not to stan

[PrettyLilMonster 361]

Deeply ashamed for being a German. Especially since my last name is the same as our chancellor’s 

[Dennis 8,391]

26 minutes ago, PrettyLilMonster said:

Deeply ashamed for being a German. Especially since my last name is the same as our chancellor’s 

Sorry to lmao you but thats terrible luck lmao 

[TasteLikeWhiskey 1,561]

1 hour ago, PrettyLilMonster said:

Deeply ashamed for being a German. Especially since my last name is the same as our chancellor’s 

Don't feel too ashamed. Your country seems to be doing what it's doing for economic/pragmatic reasons. 

Meanwhile my country is supporting Russia out of principle. Now that is something to be ashamed of. 

[Economy 52,844]

15 hours ago, Dennis said:

Russia's success will only encourage China to replicate it with Taiwan.

Invade Taiwan, cause semiconductors prices to surge while controlling the monopoly of it.

By being weak on Ukraine the west is just making WW3 more likely now.

I'd hardly call it success. They are still paying a heavy economic pain for this and will in the future

 

While in the short term because oil prices are high it helps those exports, and because imports were affected more than exports in many cases that helps in their trade balance right now. A temporary surge in their currency also helps with the trade balance... And a trade surplus is good in terms of boosting domestic savings and reducing debt

 

But over the long term some of this stuff is temporary and a trade surplus alone doesn't help these problems

 

- Oil prices won't stay at $120 indefinitely

- The high currency can't be sustained forever because part of what's been holding it up is artificial intervention but even if it were sustained, over a longer time span a currency too strong for your Nations competitiveness will actually make trade balance worse because your exporters can't compete in international markets for long and domestic producers also struggle to compete with cheap imports. A strong currency helps trade balance temporarily but longer term it's actually a curse. It's also refered to as Dutch Desiese

- Their Oil industry faces long term damage. They are already talking about shutting in some production because they cannot export the full volumes to Asia with existing infrastructure and that's not an issue you solve overnight. In addition their companies will struggle to access key western supplies and technology for Oil Industry Maintenance and expansion that predominantly exists in the West. Even if they arrange for a 3rd party purchase to get these supplies, it will raise the cost for their industry

- All of this hurts their productivity. As their productivity falls, they will only keep a trade surplus if their consumption remains equally suppressed so in general suppressed economic activity

 

A trade surplus is definitely good in general for any economy but that alone doesn't spell success I don't think. They are facing long term decline at current tragectery.