Stronger ruble hampers economic rebound as recession persists Government says growth will resume next year as oil stabilizes Russia is finding the flip side of a flexible currency less and less appealing. A free-floating ruble, its antidote to the crash in oil prices, is now working against an economy mired in the second year of recession. As crude soared by more than a third in March and April, sending the Russian currency up more than 16 percent against the dollar, gross domestic product resumed a decline after zero growth in February, according to estimates by the Economy Ministry. It did no better in May, when output shrank another 0.8 percent. “The system that made possible the economy’s adaptation to low oil prices is so far not generating growth,” said Karen Vartapetov, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings in Moscow. Close all those tabs. Open this email. Get Bloomberg’s daily […]