Amidst a backdrop of sustained downward spiral in the price of oil over the last 12 months, preliminary figures emerging from Russia reveal the country’s economy contracted more than 3.5% last year.
The economy shrank 3.7% in 2015, its worst performance since 2009.
Much of this is attributed to three key factors; the ongoing plunge in the price of oil, a similar weakness in the strength of the Rouble, and the effect of recent Western sanctions.
The drop in oil prices – itself arguably one of the stories of 2015 – has perhaps had the largest influence in the economy’s decline. Fittingly, news of Russia’s economic slump came on the same day that oil prices again fell to around $30 per barrel, having briefly rallied at the tail-end of last week.
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