Five Signs The Russia Economy Is Not Sinking As Many Were Predicting

 

Reuters: A 'default' when flush with cash: Five signs Russia ain't sinking yet 

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia may have defaulted for the first time on foreign bonds since the Bolsheviks refused to pay on a vast debt pile after the 1917 Revolution, but its $1.8 trillion economy is showing no sign of sinking just yet. 

The sanctions imposed by the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine delivered the biggest external shock to Russia's economy since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, but the economy has - so far - been remarkably resilient. 

Russia's 2022 "default", announced by the United States on Monday but rejected by the Kremlin, is very different to debt crises of previous years: in 1918 the Bolsheviks didn't want to pay and in 1998 Russia could not pay its domestic debts. 

This time, Moscow can pay and says it is ready to but the West is preventing it.  

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Update: Russia’s economy holds up in the face of sanctions – but will it last? (France 24)  

WNU editor: I expected some hard times, but not what many in the West were predicting when sanctions were imposed. Certainly not the economy imploding or the ruble crashing as President Biden was saying in March. 

My prediction. 

Russia will be shifting its economic focus away from the West and more to Asia and the emerging economies in the Middle East and Africa. And what the West should be worried about is the growing ties between Russia and China and their mutual desire to establish a financial system independent from the West, and the dethronement of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency.