MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Nearly half of Russians — 48% — believe that the hardest times for the country’s economy are yet to come, suggests polling by the All-Russia Public Opinion Center (WCIOM) on Tuesday.

The figure is 8% higher than in July and 17% higher than in May this year.

The number of the polled who believe that the difficult time is "already over" fell from 33% in May to 19% in September. Some 23% of respondents think that Russia "is undergoing" this period now, compared with 28% in May.

WCIOM polled 1,600 Russians in 46 regions on September 26-27.