REUTERS
Russia's top 50 companies listed in the benchmark MICEX Index will post an average 17% ruble-denominated revenue decline in the next 12 months, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg.
In dollar terms, the forecast is for a 25% slump, at the same time, sales for Russian companies on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the benchmark for U.S. equities, are projected to increase 2.5%, Bloomberg said.
The MICEX has risen 23% since the beginning of 2015. Bloomberg forecasts a 31% 12-month gain in January, but a mere 13% within the next year, the analysts said.
Experts have also downgraded Russia's economic outlook for 2015 and predict that the economic growth will resume no earlier than in the second quarter of 2016. The economy is projected to contract 3.6% in 2015 and climb just 0.5% in 2016, according to the average of 40 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The Russian economy expanded by an average 5.6% per annum in the first decade of the 2000s, the report notes.
In the past three months, the Russian ruble lost 23% of its value. What is more, Russia will endure a two-year economic contraction if crude oil prices stay at $60 through 2016, including a 1.2% GDP slump next year, Russia's central bank projects.
Brent crude, the oil grade traders use to price Russia's main export blend, fell less than 0.1% to $49.13 a barrel on Monday.
Plunging commodity prices, a stronger dollar and China's economic slowdown have crimped growth throughout developing nations, Bloomberg said.
"Russia seems to be hit the hardest [among the four so-called BRIC nations]," Wells Fargo's Christopher said. "Nowhere else do you see this combination of an oil rout, a decline in the ruble and restrictions on external financing."