Economics
Putin Says Russian Economic Crisis Has Peaked Amid Oil Slump
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President Vladimir Putin said Russia has passed the worst of its economic crisis after it was hit by the slump in oil prices that forced the government to lower forecasts and revise its strategy.
The “peak of the economic crisis has passed” amid signs of stabilization in business activity in the second quarter, Putin said Thursday at his televised annual news conference in Moscow. Russia set out its plans at the beginning of 2014 based on oil at $100 a barrel, though crude prices fell by half and everything had to be recalculated, while a price of $50 per barrel for 2016 is “very optimistic,” he said.