This Is Russia's Second Most Important Person After Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Elvira Nabiullina, governor of Russia’s Central Bank, in June 2014 to discuss the economic, banking and financial status of the country. The Central Bank estimated that the net outflow of capital from Russia reached $151.5 billion in 2014. (Photo: Russian Presidential Press Service)

The Economist: Putin’s right-hand woman (Russia’s central-bank governor)

The Russian economy is in a bad way, but Elvira Nabiullina has saved it from worse.

ELVIRA NABIULLINA’S first encounter with capitalism came during her university days, when she enrolled in a course called “Critique of Western Economic Theory”. It was an unusual start for a modern central banker. These days she embodies another contradiction. Russia’s economy has been held back for years by corruption and rent-seeking, and more recently by Western sanctions and the low price of oil and gas, the country’s main exports. Yet the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is a model of competent, technocratic policymaking. Since Ms Nabiullina became governor in 2013, the CBR has kept Russia’s economy, awful though it is, out of worse trouble.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I have been following Elvira Nabiullina's for years .... and the reason why is simple .... her decisions directly impact the Russian rouble and economy. And as to what is my take on her .... she is the right person, in the right place, at the right time .... and not surprising, in Putin's eyes she is his most important non-security/defense adviser. She is also the person whose decisions will directly impact Putin's re-election chances .... making it easier for him to win .... or making it a struggle.