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Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

There is convergence between Russian and the world economy. Russia's Micex index lost more than a quarter of its value and the RTS index of 50 Russian shares fell around 40% in the last five months, said the BBC. The Russian government says investors are pulling back because of falling oil prices and global economic turmoil; others are blaming internal political turmoil – increased by long-standing finance minister Alexei Kurdrin’s exit, which might lead to a government reshuffle. But some insiders say the latter factors are minor, at least for the domestic market. Russia is simply struggling in a worldwide economy that is slowing down, just like (almost) everywhere else.

Here are some view points on the opportunities that can be seen in Russia, gleaned at yesterday’s JetFin conference in Geneva.

UralSip: growth on consumer demand Slava Smolyaninov, Strategist at UralSib Capital, a Russian research firm, thinks that manufacturing is the driving force for Russia’s recovery; the ruble depreciated on the back of August volatility and it follows oil price – and oil does not help anymore he said, as its purchasing power has no upward trend. So growth is really driven by strong consumer demand, with improving confidence and credit expansion. Leaving out natural res......................

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