Market Report, "Russia Country Risk Report Q3 2016", published

President Vladimir Putin's popularity remains near record highs, although we expect this to moderate as economic hardship continues to to be realised by the general public. Despite the deterioration in living standards, we do not expect any mass uprising in response to the deteriorating economy.

Persistently low oil prices, fiscal austerity, weak investment growth and declining real incomes will lead to second consecutive real GDP contraction of 1.2% in 2016, followed by only a modest recovery to 1.5% growth in 2017.

Russia's long-term growth potential is subdued, closer to that of mature developed economies rather than a higher growth emerging market. This is due to the highly centralised nature of the economic model and large government footprint in key sectors, reliance on energy exports, poor business environment, weak investment growth and lack of structural reform momentum.

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Russia's external position will remain a bright spot for the economy despite a fall in the price of its main commodity exports, with the current account surplus remaining in relatively robust surplus in the coming years as imports remain subdued. Over the coming quarters we expect little financing pressure to emerge in the economy as its large international reserves position remains sufficient to entirely cover maturing external obligations during 2016/2017.

While Russia's fiscal position is bolstered by very low public debt ratios and fiscal reserves at its disposal, the sovereign profile will deteriorate in the coming years and major fiscal reforms - such as an overhaul of the pension system - will be necessary to ensure long-term sustainability of the public finances in light of lower commodity prices.

Major Forecast Changes

We have downgraded our real GDP growth forecast for 2016 from -0.7% to -1.2%, for 2017 from 2.3% to 1.5% y-o-y.

Key Risks

There is virtually no risk of a sovereign credit event occurring in Russia due to high FX reserves and low debt ratios. That said, growth drivers will be elusive in the absence of much higher oil prices or a significant ramp up in structural reform momentum, neither of which looks probable in the coming years. Instead, risks are tilted towards a weaker growth than we currently are forecasting, given the potential for oil prices to undershoot our already below consensus forecasts.

Assess your risk exposure in Russia with our 100% independent forecasts assessing the pace and stability of this key market. Backed by trusted data from BMI Research's 52 million data point economic forecast model, this report will allow you to measure political, economic, business environment and operational risks in Russia with confidence.

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