We know that the American economy has done very well this year. Under the guidance of the US central bank, the economy has picked up speed once again and this has not gone unnoticed. The value of the US dollar has increased significantly over the past few months and analysts say this is only the beginning.

A country that has run into problems this year is Russia without a doubt. Until recently Russia belonged to the so-called BRIC countries, but now it would be hard to assign that title to the troubled country. Russia's growth expectations have been severely dented and the country could even fall into recession next year.

The reason for the downfall of the Russian economy is not difficult: at the start of the year Russian troops entered Ukraine to regain control over Crimea.

Russians Want US Dollars

This demanded a reaction from the West. Actions like that cannot go unpunished and strict economic sanctions were put in place relatively quickly. These sanctions seemingly did not have much of an effect at first, but after the summer this all started to change very quickly.

The value of the Russian ruble crashed over the passed few months and its free fall has gotten the people of Russia to doubt. Despite the confidence in the Russian president, there is a run on currency exchange offices to get access to as much US dollars as possible.