Russia’s economy is expected to return to growth on a quarterly basis from as early as 2022 end or early 2023, according to the country’s economy minister.
What Happened: Maxim Reshetnikov said the government estimate shows a 2.9% contraction in Russia’s GDP for 2022 — narrower than expected. Earlier in August, the country predicted a 4.2% annual decline in the Russian economy, Reuters reported.
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He said across the full year of 2023, the Russian economy would still post a slight contraction of 0.9% due to the “high base effect” of the strong growth of 3.5% in the first quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, an internal report prepared for the Russian government showed that the country might face a longer and deeper recession due to Western sanctions, Bloomberg reported.
The report — which assesses the true impact of Russia’s economic isolation due to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — pained a dire picture of the country’s economy. It noted that two of the three scenarios in the document showed the contraction would further accelerate next year, and the economy would return to the pre-war level only at the end of the decade or later.
On Monday, Kremlin said Nord Stream 1 pipeline would not resume in full until the “collective West” lifts sanctions against Moscow. The spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the sanctions “introduced against our country by western countries including Germany and the UK” was responsible for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
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