Putin: Russia passes bottom of economic crisis

Russia passed the bottom of the economic crisis in 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting of leaders of ASEAN member countries with representatives of Russia-ASEAN Business Forum.

"The low level of unemployment, less than 6%, was maintained, along with moderate foreign debt and trade surplus of $160 billion in 2015," TASS cited him as saying.

According to him, the actions of the Russian Central Bank on introducing a floating exchange way for ruble have allowed the economy to adapt and preserve the high level of foreign-currency and gold reserves. As of May 1, it stood at $391.5 billion. "As a result, and experts confirm this, the bottom of the crisis was passed in 2015," Putin said.