Even though oil prices remain low compared with 2014 levels, the Russian economy has adapted and is on the path toward growth, the president said. “We are essentially out of recession,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told delegates gathered in St. Petersburg. For the first time in nearly a year, the Central Bank of Russia last week cut its key interest rate by a half percent to 10.5 percent per year. The bank said growth in the economy was “imminent” with inflation moving toward the target rate of 4 percent by late 2017. In defending the rate cut, the bank said the worst of the downturn may be in the past as growth starts to […]