Why the Russian economy keeps beating expectations

Even innormal cbr times, the is about as transparent as a Siberian snowstorm—and these are not normal times. Since the Central Bank of Russia (), and Rosstat, the official statistics agency, have stopped publishing data on everything from trade to investment; many question the reliability of those numbers that are still emerging. Investment banks, no longer advising clients on Russian companies, have pared back their research efforts. Multilateral organisations have pulled economists .