33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

13 Basic Economy World Bank After almost two years of recession, Russia has entered a path to recovery. With global growth and trade starting to strengthen at the end of 2016, Russia’s economy showed signs of overcoming the recession caused by the shocks of low oil prices and economic sanctions. Tradable sectors benefitted from the relative price adjustment and stabilizing commodity prices in the second half of 2016, and became the main drivers of economic growth, partly through increased exports. There was a positive momentum in non-tradable sectors as well, which slowed the pace of contraction compared to 2015. The incipient positive momentum appears to have spilled into early 2017. Unemployment in Russia decreased slightly, inflation slowed and real-wage growth resumed. But poverty also increased, as the sharp decline in pension income more than offset the incipient recovery in real wages. However, the prevalence of extreme poverty remained marginal. Government Amber Pariona The governm ent of Russia i s considered a federal semi-presidential republic, according to the 1993 Constitution. Under a semi-presidential structure, the President – Vladimir Putin, and the Prime Minister share governing responsibilities as the head of state and head of government, respectively. The President does, however, hold more power. Multiple political parties are represented throughout the government and its administration. Three branches share the responsibilities of running the country: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch.