Russia Could Improve Economic Situation in 2018

Russia has a chance to change the economic situation for the better this year, but this requires serious steps, the first deputy chairman of the economic committee of the federation council, Sergei Kalashnikov, said.

According to him, in 2017, the country had a favorable economic situation, but it was not used to the full. He noted that the country was able to halt the decline in 2015-16, Vestnik Kavkaza reported.

According to the senator, the main characteristic of the past year was the stability of the ruble against the dollar and the euro, which determined the sustainability of Russian business. “The Russian ruble has ceased to be attractive for the currency speculators as it was in 2014-15,” Kalashnikov explained.

However, along with this, the senator expressed regret that the country failed to use the favorable economic situation to the full for carrying out serious reforms and real improvement of the economic processes in the country.

He called the existing system of economic management ‘post-Soviet’, due to the fact that this development model of the state economy has not been built up quite clearly.

“Real income of the population continued to fall in 2017, despite the low inflation, which in practice was generated by a drop in the purchasing power of citizens, which indicates increased lending to the population. We will face this situation next year”, he complained.

He added that in the first half of 2018, the ruble will be quite stable, in the second half of the year there may be a certain turbulence with a possible depreciation of the national currency. Oil will retain its value in the range of $40-60 per barrel, RIA Novosti reported.

Meanwhile, Russia’s economy is seen growing faster than previously thought in the next three years because of improving consumer demand but still faces risks from lower oil prices and further expansion of western sanctions, the World Bank said last Tuesday.

The international lender said it now expects Russian gross domestic product to grow by 1.7% in 2017, up from a forecast of 1.3% in May, following two years of economic contraction.