(Photo from Kiev Ukraine News Blog)No Collapse Coming, Putin Tells Russia
-- International Herald Tribune
-- International Herald Tribune
MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, mindful that Russians have been traumatized by two other financial crises in the last two decades, tried to assure the country Thursday that it would be able to weather the current one.
In a keynote speech to the governing party congress, Putin announced tax cuts to spur the economy and increased spending on social programs. With the steep fall in the price of oil, the economy has slowed significantly in recent months, and stocks have plummeted.
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Moscow skyscrapers along the Moskva River at night(Photo from Russia Blog)
Russia Close to Economic Collapse As Oil Price Falls,
Experts Predict -- The Guardian
Experts Predict -- The Guardian
Russia faces possible devaluation of the rouble and a severe drop in living standards next year
Russia is now lurching towards a major economic crisis, experts predicted today, following news that the price of oil had slumped to under $50 a barrel.
The collapse in the value of oil was likely to have several catastrophic consequences for Russia including a possible devaluation of the rouble and a severe drop in living standards next year, they warned.
With oil prices tumbling, and his own credibility at stake, Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin today insisted that the country's economy was still robust.
Speaking at a meeting of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, Putin told delegates in Moscow the country would survive the current global financial turmoil - which he blamed on the US.
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