Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, has blamed Russia’s falling economy on what he described as the influence of “outside factors.”
While addressing journalists today in Moscow at his usual end-of-year news conference, Putin blamed the current economic ordeal Russians are facing on “outside factors.”
Russia is on the verge of a recession due to falling oil prices and sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis.
Putin who accepted Russia had failed to diversify its economy for the past two decades and relied too heavily on its oil and gas exports noted that Russia’s Central Bank could have acted more swiftly.
In spite of this, Putin said the nation’s currency reserves were sufficient to stabilize the economy adding that the Central Bank should not “burn” its $419bn reserves.
“If the economic problems persisted, the government would have to reduce social spending and future growth,” he revealed.
He also expressed hope that the Russian economy, “will get out of this crisis. How long? Maybe two years, but after that, growth is inevitable.”
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