Volume Of Trade Between CIS Countries Fells By 3 Times In Past 10 Years

The volume of trade between CIS countries has fallen by 3 times in the past 10 years, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said at the opening of a meeting of the Council of Prime Ministers of the CIS countries. At the same time, according to Kasyanov, the structure of the trade has changed substantially. Thus, the percentage of fuel and raw materials rose by 4 times and reached a half of the entire trade volume. At the same time, the volume of sales of machines and equipment decreased. According to Kasyanov, another problem for the economies of the CIS countries is that "the capital assets of all countries of the CIS have reached a critical condition," and the rate of their exhaustion is 70%. The Russian Prime Minister remarked that in most CIS countries the (average) wage is below $100 a month, which is the poverty level according to international standards. The fact that the share of shadow (unregistered) businesses is decreasing slowly is also a problem for the CIS countries.