Russia Sustains Economic Growth Despite Sanctions - German Magazine

Western sanctions and the drop in oil prices have been not able to deprive Russia of its investment attractiveness.

Russia's economy has surprised analysts, demonstrating amazing strength in the fourth quarter of 2014, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reported.

Investors are rethinking their views of Russia as a prospective country for growth and Russian governmental stocks are now considered much safer than three months ago, the media source wrote.

According to Roskomstat, Russia experienced economic growth of 0.9% and 0.4% in the third and fourth quarters of 2014, respectively. All in all, Russia's GDP grew by 0.6% last year.

The publication referred to a Bloomberg survey of 11 economists, all of whom said they had expected a serious crisis of the Russian economy in 2015. However, now, they admit, the economic situation in Russia is still surprisingly quiet.

An analysis of the investment market shows that Russian companies are more profitable than firms in the countries, facing comparable economic conditions, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten wrote.

According to former Bloomberg editor in chief Matthew Winkler, anti-Russian sanctions have had the opposite effect: Russians began to acquire more domestic goods and, thus, provided benefits for Russian producers. As result, Russia's economy has remained stable, despite the collapse of the ruble.