The Russian economy development and Taiwan’s business with Russia

According to the International Monetary Fund, military spending in Russia improves its economic forecasts. Russia is spending so much on the war in Ukraine that the war now benefits its economy. The IMF’s latest economic outlook raises Russia’s GDP growth forecast in 2024 from the current 1.1% forecast in October 2023 to 2.6%. However, the IMF expects Russian GDP growth to slow to 1.1% in 2025.

Despite international restrictions, Taiwanese companies supply strategically important machine tools to Russian state-owned military enterprises, nuclear power plants and educational institutes. Turkey plays a significant role in that practice, being a transit point for machine tools exported from Taiwan – customs statistics showed a 45 per cent increase in the total value of Taiwan’s machinery exports to Turkey from January to October 2023, compared to the same period in 2022.

The commission established on Russia’s initiative is finalising the draft of the first legally binding UN treaty in history to combat cybercrime. The US and other countries, cautious about the final shape of the treaty, joined its development but expressed concerns that, in its expanded form, it may provide governments with broad powers to restrict the freedom of the Internet. According to the Russians, the Americans, the EU and their allies are trying to impose a weaker international treaty on most countries while having strong domestic legislation against cybercrime.