After the high growth in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, Russia's economy began to decelerate due to the deceleration of the global trade and production. Russia's fiscal position is better than expected because of the high international oil prices. The federal government has adequate reserve funds to react to the adverse impact of the European debt crisis. However, government finance would deteriorate because of population aging and fulfilling election promises in the future. Meanwhile, Russia's monetary policy system is in transition to inflation targeting, and ruble exchange rate gradually is moving toward a free floating system. The fluctuation of the ruble exchange rate has increased despite the improvement in domestic inflation. The stronger eternal impetus from joining WTO and building Eurasian Economic Union might help Russia to solve the problems of single trade structure and inefficiency. However, the determinants of economy growth mainly depend on the stability in politics and continuity in economic policies.
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