In a potential blow to a weakened Russian economy, the head of the Russian Central Bank said there may be a sustained slump in crude oil prices. A price of around $45 per barrel for the global benchmark, Brent, is about 45 percent lower than this date in 2014 and about 20 percent below the start of 2015. Weak global economic growth and increases in crude oil production means markets favor the supply side, pushing prices lower. Russian Central Bank Chief Elvira Nabiullina said there may be a prolonged downturn ahead . “The oil market is being structurally transformed, which demonstrates that oil prices may stay low for a long period of time,” she said. In September, the […]