Oil prices, China help Russia survive sanctions

London

RUSSIA has managed to overcome sanctions because of higher oil and gas prices and China's trade and investment.

In the past year, the Bank of Russia also bolstered the economy by slashing interest rates from 10 per cent to 7.25 per cent.

According to the central bank, growth is currently 1.8 per cent, unemployment has fallen from over 9 per cent in 2014 to 5 per cent, and inflation is 2.2 per cent.

This performance can hardly be described as a boom. Yet economic stability, with state debt only 12.6 per cent of gross domestic product, is fairly impressive considering recent history.

Between 2014 and the beginning of 2016, the Russian economy…