Russia’s Crossed Wire Winnowing
Russian shares languished at the bottom of the MSCI Europe pack into March as President Trump’s wiretapping allegations against his predecessor redoubled controversy over previous campaign connections acknowledged by senior officials and under investigation by the US Congress and law enforcement arms. The entanglement continued to raise questions about election interference and cyber-attacks against Washington and critical infrastructure, and sidetracked calls for Ukraine incursion sanctions easing as conflict also worsened there. The recession is over with the oil price again at $50/barrel and inflation may halve to 5 percent with ruble recovery, as the central bank holds rates and limits currency intervention. Single-digit valuations remain at a discount to emerging market peers, but foreign investors have turned wary of domestic legal and political risks alongside additional cross-border intrigue in Europe and the Middle East. In the region Kremlin associates were reportedly implicated in a coup attempt in Montenegro and a Moldova banking scandal unseating the government. Moscow may also demand harsher terms for another bailout of Belarus in the Eurasian Economic Union, after President Lukashenka’s IMF program overtures were spurned. Putin nemesis Navalny was arrested on fresh charges designed to prevent participation in next year’s presidential contest, but he plans to continue campaigning through detention. Human rights campaigners were further appalled by legislation to decriminalize spousal violence, and eyewitness accounts of civilian bombardment by Russian war jets in Syria, where Aleppo was retaken by Assad forces. With the post-2014 financial crisis ebbing state-owned giant Sberbank has revived earnings and the Kudrin structural reform blueprint, which received attention at its height, has faded into the background. Anti-corruption discontent has likewise dissipated, with news of Prime Minister Medvedev’s lavish spending while rejecting elderly pensioner pleas for a raise eliciting a shrug.
However rapprochement with Turkey, where equities have veered positive with a near 10 percent gain, has deepened in recent months, with a mutual pledge to quintuple bilateral trade to $100 billion, and establishment of a Turkish military buffer zone in Syria to battle ISIS and Kurdish rebels. A Russian company is building a nuclear plant, extending energy cooperation as half of Turkey’s natural gas imports are sourced from Moscow. President Erdogan’s sweeping arrests of business executives and government officials after last year’s failed coup has met with no protest, and the seizure of big companies for alleged Gulenist conspiracies has replicated the Kremlin model. Proposed constitutional revisions going to national referendum would allow the President terms to run until 2029 under expanded powers. Deputy Prime Simsek, sidelined as an economic reformer, admitted a short-term “mess” with the lira at a record low and meager growth, but urged investors to stay the course for political system overhaul. The central bank refuses to outright raise rates under presidential hectoring as the regime intends to consolidate large bank and corporate holdings in a sovereign wealth fund to increase economic control and leverage. With private borrowing external debt/GDP is 30 percent, and rollovers may not be as smooth with exchange rate and operating setbacks. Fitch stripped investment grade status in February with expectation of corporate restructuring volume despite the 3 percent headline bad loan number, and a temporary return to double digit inflation as the Islamic Party leadership doubles down on wiring popular dominance.
