To those living in developed countries, slavery seems a thing of the past, even if it was still around in the century before last. But the fact is that about 30 million people worldwide live in modern slavery, with nearly half of them (14 million) in India. Putting emotions aside, one could say this is a very profitable business. The Walk Free Foundation estimates that slave labor generates $32 billion in profits annually for people and organizations.

During the fall of 2013, the People’s Republic of China announced a massive economic project called “The New Silk Road.” Beijing has given formal recognition to a trend dating back to the 1990s to include Central Asian countries in the orbit of the Chinese economy. Now this trend has gained a clear and concrete form through this ambitious project, which brings together China, the countries of Central Asia, and possibly Central Europe.

The term “Silk Road,” which is borrowed from ancient and medieval history, was already used by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011. The Washington project proposed the creation of trade and transport links extending from the steppes of Central Asia to the southernmost tip of India. The main objective of this American project was to bring Afghanistan into a sustainable regional economic network, which the concept’s authors believed would have a positive impact on the stability of the whole region. The American project encountered several problems associated with the ongoing political instability in Afghanistan, as well as the project’s high price tag and the inability to compete with Chinese proposals.

Analysts at World Economic Journal have taken the advice of Goldman Sachs’s Jim O’Neill in replacing Korea with Nigeria in the new grouping of developing economies. They have also evaluated the most important macroeconomic performance indicators of these countries.
The current statistics are relentless: According to 2012 results, the economic growth of the four BRIC countries stalled, and in 2013 the situation did not improve. To judge from forecasts, the opportunities are very limited. This means that investors are beginning to withdraw their assets, from both funds and the countries themselves.

Professor Julian Cooper, expert of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in an interview to WEJ, spoke about the prospects of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the potential for its expansion and the risks to Eurasian Customs Union stable development.

Professor Cooper, the Eurasian Customs Union has been functioning now for over two years, how would you assess its effectiveness?
It is too early to draw any firm conclusions. However, its central administrative structure, the Eurasian Economic Commission, has undertaken a very considerable volume of work in a relatively brief period to establish the basic institutions of the Union and the closely related Single Economic Space (SES). Much progress has been made in developing improved administration of customs, technical regulation, sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary regulation and non-tariff measures. The SES is developing, especially in relation to the free movements of goods and services, but much work remains to be done to secure the other two freedoms, of labour and capital. Under the leadership of Viktor Khristenko the Commission has formed an impressively professional team of officials and a businesslike working culture. Its international standing has been steadily rising.

Most people perceive that Russia’s financial position is quite stable. The country’s currency reserves are around $500 billion, which is almost three times the public debt. But considering the slowing rates of economic growth, the high dependency on oil and gas, and the accelerating outflow of capital from the country, the 2014 macroeconomic forecast does not have any notable successes in store for Russia.

The Russian economy in the last quarter grew only by 1.2%, while the rate of growth of investments and industrial production is approaching zero, which are evidence that the economic situation in Russia is stagnating. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development (MED) expects that stagnation will continue in 2014, and that the depreciation of the ruble will be more rapid than previously anticipated. According to the MED, the economic growth forecast for 2014 has been lowered from 3% to 2.5%. Experts at the International Monetary Fund provide the same pessimistic macroeconomic outlook for 2014. The MED also lowered its longterm economic development forecast to 2030 from 4% to 2.5%.  Thus, the country will share last place with Brazil within the BRICS group of countries, by growth rate.

“In 2014 the country will be in recession, although the reduction in GDP will not exceed 0.5–0.7%,”  Vladislav Inozemtsev, Doctor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies, told WEJ. “Government budget revenues for the first time in recent years will fall (by 4–7%) due to a reduction in tax payments and a slight decrease in the value of exports (primarily due to discounts on gas, a general reduction in its price, as well as falling metal prices). Business will continue to shy away from extremely excessive tax regimes, which will also impact declining budget revenues.”

For a long time, Mexico was to North America as China was at the end of the 20th century, with its cheap labor, high workforce productivity, and low quality. But government stakes in developing high-tech industries, Mexico’s unprecedented openness to international trade, and rising wages in China have turned this country into an ideal place for the production and subsequent export of a whole range of goods. Mexico is already the world’s largest exporter of plasma televisions and Blackberry smartphones, and cars stamped “Made in Mexico” are taking to the roads far beyond North America.