Russia’s crisis easing, Poland’s energy supply boom

Comments from Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina this week underline the view that the most acute phase of Russia's crisis may have passed and that interest rates are likely to fall sharply in the coming months, but that a long-term re-structuring and a new growth model will now be needed. Meanwhile, Poland's industrial production figures for March beat expectations again and a lot of this strength reflects a questionable surge in power supply that may be overstating the strength of industry. But even so, there were encouraging details in the manufacturing figures that suggest industry should be able to hold up well this year despite the war in Ukraine.