Official Statistics

official statistics: First and foremost, Russia may soon feel the effects of China spectacular economic slowdown, according to The Moscow Times. According to official statistics, growth rates decelerated slightly from 7.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to 7 percent in the second quarter of 2015 — but calculations based on electricity use suggest the real growth may be as low as 4.5-5 percent. This time, however, that seems to be far more problematic than ever before. Combined with a recent stock market crash, this has already caused a downturn in global commodity prices, which has hit Russia hard. Putin said back in 2007 that by 2025 Russia should dispatch to China around 35 percent of all its oil exports and close to 25 percent of its natural gas supplies . Moscow hoped that China would become Russia new major trading partner, surpassing the EU by 2030. Much more important, however, is the fact that China was not only a price-setting player, but by far the biggest importer of raw materials in the world — and Russian authorities looked forward to turning their country into China largest supplier. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.