The Economics Ministry has adjusted downward its forecast through 2019 and Russia is now expected to underperform the global economy even more than previously anticipated. The paper predicted that the FSB would soon swallow foreign intelligence and take on more investigative functions, swelling to the size and influence of the Soviet-era KGB. The role of the strong technocratic teams at the Economics and Finance Ministries and the Central Bank is essentially to maintain and describe the status quo. As throughout the last two years, the Finance Ministry and the central bank are likely to whittle down the budget deficit by other means for now. It remains to be seen whether the central bank will be able to keep inflation that low as the government scrambles to narrow the budget deficit.

Source: National Post September 27, 2016 15:33 UTC