#Russianeconomy suffers first contraction since #globalcrisis

Rouble falls again as official report shows economy declined by 0.5% in November

An employee counts Russian rouble banknotes at a small private shop selling home appliances in Krasnoyarsk. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

Russia’s economy shrank sharply in November and the rouble resumed its slide as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis... (Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Russia: #Russianeconomy falters in face of #westernsanctions

Kremlin flags tit-for-tat food import restrictions as boost for domestic agriculture and chance for Russians to eat home-grown produce

The lives of many Russians are beginning to change, as a combination of western sanctions over Ukraine, a ban on some food imports and falling oil prices weigh on an already weakened economy. More Russians are putting off expensive purchases, adapting travel plans and changing grocery stores. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Trade is not usually brisk at Ala Smirnova’s corner shop sitting among apartment blocks in a suburb of north Moscow. It is mainly seen as a late-night, last resort for locals who have run out of essentials such as soap, beer or bread. That changed this week as word went round that the thinly stocked little store contained a trove of some of the last affordable grechka, or buckwheat, left in town... 

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