MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Russia must carry out sweeping political reforms to safeguard future economic growth, the architect of economic policy during Vladimir Putin’s eight-year presidency said yesterday.
German Gref, now chief executive of Russia’s biggest bank, state-controlled Sberbank <SBER03.MM>, said the first stage of economic reform, which had required a tightly held political system to push through change, was nearing an end.
“Do we still have the room to move forward on the first stage of reforms? I think we do but we obviously need to prepare political institutions for a gradual shift towards the second stage,” Gref, Putin’s former economy minister, told reporters.
The second stage of Russia’s economic reform required “totally different political institutions,” he said.
“(Such as) freedom of speech, which directly affects economic growth rates, privatisation, competition, including political competition, which reduces a risk of mistakes when choosing a course of reforms,” he said.
Putin’s chosen successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, has called since being sworn in as president in May 2008 for a more liberal political system and a better environment for small businesses and foreign investors.
