Economist Mikhail Melnik: Russian Economy Heavily Dependant On Prices Of Oil

Southern Polytechnic State University Economist Dr. Mikhail Melnik told Benzinga that the rise of oil and natural gas prices during this century helped Russia overcome the economic disarray of the 1990s.

“The addiction to energy prices spread throughout the economy,” he said.

Today, Mikhail explained that everything from real estate in Moscow to the budget of the country is very dependent on the price of oil.

“Give the share of energy commodities in the nation’s exports, the currently is also dependent on the commodity prices,” he said. “And it seems that this recent pullback in energy prices was not anticipated by the Russian policy makers.”