Russia's Economy Is A Mess, But Will Its Financial System Implode? Probably Not

Russia's economy is, obviously, not in particularly good shape right now. The economy entered recession in 2015 and that recession is currently forecast to continue at least through the end of 2016. Yes the initial IMF forecast was for a relatively short downturn and a return to modest growth, but it was premised on estimates of oil prices that (by now) look almost ludicrously over-optimistic.