The collapse of the Russian economy

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Bloomberg agency claims that Russia and OPEC have launched a price war, which will inevitably lead to a severe decline in the Russian economy, if the latter does not return to the old agreements in the framework of the oil cooperation of the organization of oil exporting countries. “We believe that OPEC and Russia started a price war this weekend,” analysts said.

The Russian economy, contrary to Putin's assurances, is directly dependent on the situation on the energy market. According to many experts, the forecast for the oil market is now even more pessimistic than it was in 2014, because oil demand is falling further due to the situation with the coronavirus epidemic. Experts agree that oil prices could fall to $ 20 per barrel.

The reason for the fall was Russia's refusal of agreements to reduce oil production. With this decision, Russia wanted to “annoy” America, where shale oil production is unprofitable at prices below $ 40 per barrel. But, according to the good old tradition, the Russian Federation dealt a blow to its own economy and citizens' wallets, because, against the backdrop of a collapse in oil, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation suspended the purchase of foreign currency for 30 days.

The dollar and the euro rushed up, their rate soared by more than 15% despite the fact that at the end of February Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated that the Bank of Russia did not need to resort to a pause in currency purchases on the market under the budget rule. Then the head of the Ministry of Finance did not see any reason for this.

At the same time, securities of Russian companies collapsed at the opening of trading in London. Gazprom shares fell 24.82% to $ 4.12 as of 11:22 Moscow time, Rosneft - 23.54% to $ 4.41, Novatek - 33.6% to $ 92.5, Gazprom Neft - by 11.62% to $ 24.35.

Some experts believe that if Russia does not return to the framework of previous agreements with OPEC, this will lead to the inevitable collapse of the entire Russian economy and the devaluation of the ruble.

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