Russia’s Sberbank Posts Record $17Bln Profit in 2023

Well how many years will it take for the mighty Western sanctions to kick in?

Russia's largest bank made record profits in 2021, didn't have a loss in 2022, and now made more money in 2023 than in all its history.

Russia's sanctioned-out-the-wazoo wartime economy seems to be holding up quite well. Better than Bidenomics, that's for sure.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/01/17/russias-sberbank-posts-record-17bln-profit-in-2023-a83748

 

Well when you charge 16% interest, you are going to be increasing revenue.

 

Sanctions don't do squat.

When I was in Iraq talking to the locals and recruits (I was there training the NEW Iraqi Army) through my I-T (Interpreter-Translator), they were amazed that there were sanctions placed on Sadaam. They never saw any shortages. They never heard of any shortages. And it might be noted that this mostly occurred at Camp Liberty, a compound built by Sadaam during the period of "sanctions". A huge man-made lake ("Z Lake" was constructed and populated with palaces... Sadaam's own, which became Coalition Headquarters, had golden fixtures in the bathrooms.

Sanctions don't do squat.

 

I value real information from the outside world, I'm aware my opinions and possibly everyone's are no more reliable than the data they are based on.

 

Apparently the western hopes of bankrupting Russia with sanctions have been unsuccessful so far. I wonder how well BRICS's sanctions could affect Israel's and the US's special arrangement?

https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/russia/

1. "How big is the Russian economy?
   
   "As of 2023, Russia's economy is forecast to be among the largest in the world by nominal GDP, with a value of approximately USD 1.9 trillion.
   
   "Russia remains a significant economic power with a strong resource base and a diversified economy.
   
   "However, the ongoing war in Ukraine and Western sanctions will weigh on GDP growth ahead."

 

It's working, even if will take time:

Russia Monetary Policy December 2023
15-Dec-23
Russia: Central Bank hikes key rate again in December

At its meeting on 15 December, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) hiked its key policy rate by 100 basis points to 16.00%. This marked the fifth consecutive meeting where the CBR increased borrowing costs as it continued its fight against spiraling inflation. The Bank has now raised rates by 850 basis points since July, including an emergency hike in August.

The Bank’s continued monetary policy tightening was driven by rising price pressures. Inflation jumped to 7.5% in November from 6.7% in October, and the Bank expects it to hover around this level through year-end. Moreover, inflation expectations among households and businesses continued to increase amid a weak ruble, booming government spending and a labor force crisis due to military mobilization. Meanwhile, the Bank expects GDP growth in 2023 to outperform its October forecast and exceed 3.0%, adding further fuel to the inflation rally.

... https://www.focus-economics.com/cou...entral-bank-hikes-key-rate-again-in-december/

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...nctions-war-with-the-west-opinion/ar-AA1n8CtO
How Russia Won the Sanctions War With the West
Story by Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell • 1d

"It is now abundantly clear that Russia has defeated the Western sanctions regime that was intended to cripple its economy and force its withdrawal from Ukraine. Instead of collapsing, the Russian economy is growing rapidly. Russia's GDP grew by an impressive 5.5 percent in the third quarter of 2023. Final figures for the year are not yet in, but Russian GDP growth for all of 2023 should exceed 3 percent. Ironically, the Russians are doing rather better than those who imposed sanctions on them. In 2023, the U.S. economy grew by 2.4 percent while the German economy shrank, and the EU as a whole grew by less than 1 percent. Instead of withdrawing from Ukraine, Russia has increased the size of its invasion force from 190,000 troops in February 2022 to more than 600,000 today."

 

Sanctions accomplish nothing. We levied sanctions on Iraq before the invasion. The Iraqis I talked to never knew there were any sanctions. It had no effect at all.

 

Does the following make sense to you?

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blo...sion drove Ukraine's,nearly 6 percent in 2023.

"The Russian invasion drove Ukraine’s GDP down by 29 percent in 2022, but in 2023 the economy grew by 19.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter and by 9.5 percent in the third quarter.

"Rather than an expected stabilization, Ukraine is likely to achieve annual economic growth of nearly 6 percent in 2023.

"Admittedly, that still means a decline of around 25 percent from the prewar level in 2021.

"However, given the scale of the destruction caused by the Russian invasion and the fact that Russia still occupies around 17 percent of Ukraine’s territory, these figures are nevertheless impressive."

 

What's your point? What does this have to do with Russia's economy circling the drain?

THINGS AREN'T LOOKING GOOD | Friday Crazy News Update


^ Russian guy, so probably worth listening to.

 

The key question is, what are the Russian banks' interest rates? 16%! You open a Russian high-yield savings account and you'll be rich! But, haha, you can't because of sanctions.

 

Whatever the state of Russia's economy, Russia requires no US support to maintain its state; Ukraine can not say the same since it would not exist without the US taxpayer.

 

Russia is getting help from China and North Korea.

 

What kind help? Are you telling us that China and North Korea are funding Russia's government and economy like the US is doing for "the ukraine"?

Nope.

It's called capitalism.

Face it, Russia is better at capitalism than the West is. The Soviets became capitalists, and the US is trying its best to become socialists (when fascism doesn't work).

 

Well, yes, Ukraine is under significantly more duress than Russia since it has an invading army occupying a significant part of it and continually firing missiles and drones at its critical infrastructure, also requiring it to draft a helluva lot of its potential workforce into the military to combat the invader. Russia is only suffering from various sanctions and much more limited attacks on its infrastructure, and those tend to be focused on things that directly affect Russia's military capabilities, such as oil and gas storage facilities and rail lines in addition to various military targets.

If the best you can do is compare Russia's economy to Ukraine's, you really have nothing to offer. The fact remains that Russia is experiencing significant inflation, loss of labor due to its military requirements, and is rapily drawing down its available wealth reserves to continue paying for everything. It's no wonder Bill wants us all to ignore all of that and look at Sberbank, which obviously can be propped up by the Russian government for the time being and is not at all indicative of overall economic health, contrary to his claims.

 

Probably not but support nevertheless. Russia is stomping around like they are the biggest bear in the area but have not so far been able to bludgeon Ukraine to submission. Now Putin is giving NATO the stink eye but he should remember that is a whole nuther animal. NATO has real air power.

 

Ukraine will have some real air power pretty soon as well. It's going to be interesting to see what Ukrainian F-16s accomplish.

 

Not my claims buddy, but they are correct. Russia doesn't use the printing press like we do. That's why they are solvent, as opposed to us having $34 trillion in debt.

 

You're citing an opinion piece. I'm citing facts.

Plus, the authors of this opinion piece are clowns who also apparently wrote this:

https://www.newsweek.com/never-forget-real-reason-russia-went-war-opinion-1781535

And all of this rot: https://www.newsweek.com/authors/michael-gfoeller-and-david-h-rundell

 

You're a little upset my friend. I'm sorry/not sorry the MSM fake news lied to you, but you get what you get. You got got. Russia's economy is doing just fine, much better than ours and Western Europe's. Sanctions backfired. Deal with it. Now me myself, as a large holder of Sberbank and other Russian market equities, I know very well how the economy is doing. Sberbank will be sending another fat dividend soon, and I'm laughing all the way to the bank....no pun intended.

Sis-boom-bah rah rah rah yay sanctions

 

True; however, Chinese and North Korean support for Russia pales in significance to US underwriting the entire Ukrainian corruption bazaar:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-much-aid-the-u-s-has-sent-to-ukraine-in-6-charts

"Heading into 2022, U.S. foreign assistance was driven by various priorities of the Biden administration, including combating climate change, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and countering authoritarianism.

"But since Russia’s invasion in February of that year, Ukraine has become far and away the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid. It’s the first time that a European country has held the top spot since the Harry S. Truman administration directed vast sums into rebuilding the continent through the Marshall Plan after World War II."

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IN10688.html

"Under the Marshall Plan, between 1948 and 1951, the United States provided $13.3 billion ($150 billion in 2017 dollars) in assistance to 16 European countries (Figure 1). The 1949 appropriation alone represented roughly 12% of the U.S. federal budget."

 

......yeah....sure they did......

 

Ukraine's economy would not exist without US support anymore than its current coup government would not have happened without US meddling in 2014. Russia, on the other hand, is more independent of the US dollar than it has ever been.

 

A very Russian bot-type of 'argument' here. You're completely ignoring and deflecting the facts and trying to shift focus onto Ukraine's economy, as if Ukraine's economy doing poorly in any way negates what I have posted about Russia's economy. It does not. It's not an either-or situation, where Ukraine's economy has to be doing well for Russia's economy to be suffering.

Ukraine's economy is not even the topic of the thread. It's about Sberbank and the Russian economy.