Russian central bank expects Western sanctions to remain until end of 2017

[MOSCOW] The Russian central bank said on Monday that it expects zero economic growth in 2015 and only 0.1 per cent growth in 2016, in a three-year monetary policy strategy that anticipates Western sanctions against Russia will remain until the end of 2017.

The central bank said that it was also calculating its base forecasts on the Urals oil price URL-E recovering to an average of US$95 in 2015 but falling to US$90 by the end of 2017, a long-term downward trend which it said would constrain economic growth.

REUTERS