Russia Is Running on More Than Just the Black Stuff
Automobiles queue on a highway beside the Kremlin complex in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016. Russia is realistic about limits on the prospects for an immediate improvement in relations with the U.S. after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, according to President Vladimir Putins spokesman.
Andrey Rudakov/BloombergRussia has exited recession, with a little help from the boys in uniform, a major statistical revision – and the global oil price. And not just any recession, but its longest in two decades. So what happened?
Actually, the contraction ended a few quarters earlier than previously estimated, according to revised calculations by the Bank of Russia’s research and forecasting department. The Federal Statistics Office hasn't released a quarterly growth figure since 2015, so that's not an official, official number. The central bank had thought that quarterly growth turned positive only in the second half of last year. Now it seems Russia has been in the black since the first quarter of 2016.