Russia’s war in Ukraine, now almost three years old, has had a detrimental impact on its economy: with skyrocketing inflation, labour shortages (so many are on the front line), the rouble in freefall, and construction projects diminishing rapidly.
Meanwhile, with some of its gas exports curtailed, the price of its main commodity (oil) could well fall dramatically in the wake of the president-elect taking office in the US in a few weeks’ time.
Perhaps President Putin expects that a peace formula could arise out of that change of government – but now seems a peculiar time, when you are still fighting a very costly war – to be committing almost USD2.5 billion to investment in a third of the nation’s airports on the spurious assumption that passenger traffic is going to grow by 50% in the next five years.
While a small aviation tax is to be levied, that tax isn’t going to pay for this extravagance, and Russia’s extensive private sector might well be asked to make a significant contribution to this scheme.
One thing is for sure – foreign investors won’t be asked to contribute any time soon, and if they were, they should make their excuses and look elsewhere.
