Money and finance

Abstract

The financial system controlled by the government developed slowly relative to the West Europe in the imperial time. This characteristic seemed to be carried over into the Soviet financial system where the state budget played the main role in financing and bank financing had only a subsidiary role. This pattern of Soviet finance changed in the mid-1960s. Bank financing expanded using household deposits, while the Soviet government turned to be a net absorber of financial resources. This financial system collapsed eventually because of its low use efficiency of funds. After the collapse, the Russian financial system returned to a standard financial system of a market economy, although a sound financial system is still under construction. The monetary and financial data are fragmental and often incomparable, reflecting all these developments in the Russian financial system.