Fewer Russians go Shopping – Dagbladet Finnmarken

traffic across the Norwegian-Russian border at Storskog screeched to a stop in December. The decrease compared with December last year was on the whole 28.9 percent, which means that in 2014 was undertaken fewer border crossings than the year before.

Fewer in stores

Figures Østfinnmark Police submitted before the weekend should worry commerce college of Sør-Varanger, which in recent years has had a explosive growth in Russian customers in their stores:

• In 2013 was undertaken 320,042 passings of the Norwegian-Russian border. This was an increase of 21 percent from 2012.
• The figures for 2014 show a decline in traffic of 0.6 percent, with “only” 218 315 border crossings.

Since 2010, when it was carried 140,855 border crossings, traffic has increased steadily.

Police own growth forecasts showed a year ago that it could be made 400.000 passages in 2014.

But that was before the Russian annexation of the Crimea, western sanctions and the impairment of the Russian ruble.

• An American dollar cost Friday 58.6 rubles, which is an increase of 77.17 percent in one year.
• The Norwegian krone has also become significantly more expensive for Russians. 10 million cost Friday 77.7 rubles, 46.6 percent more than 12 months ago.

There are fewer travelers on ordinary visa, not border traffic permit, which is why to the decline in traffic in 2014, writes superintendent Stein Kristian Hansen in an e-mail to Finnmarken.

– There was a decline of almost 10,000 passes visa in December 2014 compared with December 2013. The decline is well poised for everyone, and it’s heading in the ruble. Beyond that there is no other reason that we can see, writes Hansen.

Norwegians on dieseltur

The weak ruble has made it cheaper for Norwegians to act in Russia. One liter of fuel now costs just under five million at stations in Nikel and Zapoljarnij, which also appears also in traffic figures.

In 2014, it was registered 42.429 passages of Norwegians border traffic permits, an increase of 15.6 percent.

Predicts difficult time in Russia

The economic outlook in Russia is grim, and strengthened now that Western sanctions probably maintained throughout 2015.

In a memo prepared by the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow says that the country is now heading into recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth). The Russian state budget needs an oil price of $ 100 a barrel to break even, a price that is miles away from the current level of around $ 60.

“The Russian Ministry of Economic Development announced its updated macroeconomic forecasts on December 2, and now say in brief that Russia’s economy is heading into a crisis. The main reason is the decline in oil prices, but this is enhanced by the western restrictive measures together with the fall in the ruble exchange rate. Ministry now expects recession in 2015 and estimates a decline in GDP of 0.8 percent, “according to the note.

Calculations estimate that 130 billion dollars disappeared out of Russia last year. The expected capital flight in 2015 could be 90 billion, and the Russian authorities expect the average oil price will remain at $ 80 a barrel.

It is pointed out, however, that inflation is an increasingly increasing problem.