Russia’s economy will contract by more than 10% in 2022, according to Alexei Kudrin, former finance minister. This would be the largest drop in the gross domestic product since 1991, Kudrin stated on Tuesday.
Russia faces soaring inflation, capital flight and a potential debt default following the West’s crippling sanctions against President Vladimir Putin. The West sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24th.
According to the RIA state news agency, Kudrin, now head of the Audit Chamber, Russia’s finance and economy ministries are working on new forecasts.
According to RIA, Kudrin was Putin’s finance minister between 2000 and 2011.
The Russian government had previously forecasted that gross domestic product would grow by 3% in 2019 after the economy grew by 4.7% in 2021.
A source close to Russia’s government, who spoke under anonymity, told Reuters that the Russian economy ministry expects a contraction of 10% to 15% in GDP this year.
According to data from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, a contraction of 10% would be the largest drop in the gross domestic product since 1994.
According to the World Bank, the Russian GDP will fall by 11.2% in 2018, according to its latest forecast.
Reuters polled analysts in March and found that they had forecast a 7.3% GDP contraction in 2022. They also predicted an increase in inflation to almost 24%, the highest level since 1999.
Putin said that the “special military operations” in Ukraine were necessary because the United States used Ukraine to threaten Russia. Moscow also had to intervene to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians from persecution.
Ukraine claims it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and dismisses Putin’s claims of genocide.
