3. Russian Role in International Banking and Finance Capital
In Lenin's list of the characteristics of imperialist countries of his time, the large banks are the most important organizations of finance capital. We would expect an imperialist state to be well represented among the leading banks.Of the world's top 100 banks, ranked by total assets, China has 5 of the top 10. The US has 6 of the top 40. Of the top 100 banks, 20 are Chinese, 10 are US, 9 are Japanese, 6 French, 6 German, 6 British, 5 Canadian, 5 South Korean, 5 Brazilian, 4 Australian, 3 Swedish, 3 Italian, 3 Spanish, 3 Dutch, 2 Singapore banks, and 2 Swiss banks. Russia has one, ranked number 66.
Lenin stated that in the imperialist epoch "the division of the world among the international trusts" has taken place. How the world in the imperialist epoch is divided among these trusts changes as imperialist states rise and fall. In the present world division among these trusts we find Russia a quite minor actor, 4 corporations in the top 100, 25 in the top 2000, holding 1.45% of the world market share, no corporations among the top 100 in terms of foreign assets, and one bank in the top 100 international banks.
Russian Export of Capital
Lenin stated that "(3) the export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance." Russia does have a substantial export of capital, but this comes in the form of capital flight, to tax havens such as Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. Russia's Central Bank put the country's net capital flight in 2014 at $154.1 billion, and the total since Putin came into office in 1999 to 2014 at about $550 billion. The actual total through 2014 may be greater than $1 trillion. The Central Bank put Russian capital flight in 2018 at $66 billion.
Russian Multinationals' Foreign Assets
A study lists the top 100 non-financial multi-national corporations as ranked by their foreign assets, their investment in other countries. In this key measure of export of finance capital, 20 of the corporations are US, 14 are British, 12 French, 11 German, 11 Japanese, 5 Swiss, 5 are Chinese (including Hong Kong). Not one Russian corporation makes the top list of 100 corporations based on their investments abroad.
The top 10 non-financial Russian multinationals possess $188.3 billion in total foreign assets, representing one-third of the Russian total. The total Russian corporate foreign assets still amounts to less than that of the first two on the top 100 non-financial world multinationals list. [9]
Russian Holdings of Finance Capital Compared to Imperialist States
Another measure of finance capital holdings by the countries of the world is produced annually by Credit Suisse. Its Global Wealth Databook 2018 charts national financial wealth (stocks, bonds, money market funds and bank accounts) by dividing national financial wealth by the total adult population in each country. The top group, with over $100,000 average wealth per adult, consists of the countries of Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Israel, Singapore and Taiwan. The US ($336,528) ranks second after Switzerland ($372,336). All countries in this group are the imperialist countries, or key satellites of the imperial center, the United States. The world average financial wealth per adult is $38,110; looted Greece stands at $33,969. China is far behind at $19,862. Russia lies much lower at $8,843, which amounts to 2.6% of the average adult financial wealth compared to the US.
Russia remains a world apart from possessing the financial wealth of an imperialist country. Of financial and non-financial wealth in the world, the US has a 31% share, China the only country over 10%, with 16.4%: Russia 0.7%.
Lenin wrote "Imperialism is the epoch of finance capital and of monopolies"""In which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance." [10] In the area of export of finance capital for productive purposes by Russian multinationals, Russia is a very minor player.
4. Russian World Military Weight
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
