Russia: Troubleshooting Starts As Energy Loses Steam

Oil and gas exports, the bread and butter of the national economy, look to have gone a bit stale.

The reasons are threefold: a strong ruble, a suffocating tax regime, and an oil price driven down by plenty of global supplies, analysts said.

As this sector represents some 65 percent of both exports and the total value of Russian companies, there is little room to doubt that the markets are going to suffer.
But many have been wondering whether the greater economy can take it and, if the slump continues, whether it can adapt.

If the oil price does not recover in those two or three years, the economy would have to diversify or face nothing short of collapse.

A low oil price may prove the best medicine — though bitter — to boost value-added production and to kick-start the reform the tax regime.

Moscow Times