Russia May Now Be Even More Dependent on Imports from China than North Korea Is, Bank of Finland Says

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 20 – Because of Western sanctions and Moscow’s turn to the east, the Russian Federation may now be relying on China for a greater share of its imports than any other country in the world with the possible exception of North Korea, according to an expert at the Bank of Finland.

            Iikka Korhonen, the head of the Bank’s Institute for Transitional Economies, says that more than a third of Russia’s imports now come from China and possibly 40 percent. If the former, Russia would rank second to North Korea; if the latter, he says, it would surpass that country (rbc.ru/economics/15/11/2022/63736ad59a7947d80ecae4a9).

            The reason for the uncertainty, the economist says, is that earlier this year, the Russian government stopped publishing data on foreign trade, forcing analysts to draw conclusions based on incomplete and indirect data. But there is no question that Russia is, one publication noted, “the most dependent on China of any country” at least after North Korea (thinktanks.by/publication/2022/11/23/rossiya-samaya-zavisimaya-ot-kitaya-strana-posle-kndr.html).