PM: Russia passes toughest period for its economy

MOSCOW, Sep 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy is undergoing a large-scale transformation, but the toughest period has passed, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday during the Moscow Financial Forum.

“The Russian economy is undergoing a large-scale transformation. The unilateral disruption of the previous economic ties by the Western partners exacerbated many problems, but the most difficult period has passed,” he said.

Forecasts that expected a deep recession of the Russian economy because of the sanctions turned out to be false, and none of the Western experts expected that. The economy is recovering faster than expected, and Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) may grow by more than 2.5% this year, he said.

Russia managed to adapt to the new challenges and to return to a consistent growth backed up by the stability of the labor market and by high dynamics of investment. Investment activity and consumer activity would become the key growth drivers for the economy, he said.

“Our actions (in the future) would be focused on efficient solutions of the priority tasks defined by the president. It includes deeper external economic relations with the promising partners from the friendly countries and improvement of the necessary mechanisms including the transport and payment components. It also includes strengthening of the technological and financial sovereignty, faster construction of transport, public utility and social infrastructures, and improvement of the wealth of citizens,” Mishustin said.

At the same time, the oil and gas industry would need more time to adapt to the current situation and to rebuild the commercial flows than other industries, he said.

He also said that many foreign investors would have wanted to keep their project in Russia, and that Moscow expected them to return to the country.

Nevertheless, the Russian government plans to continue improving the country’s financial sovereignty, and it wants to speed up the switch to a wider utilization of the ruble.

“We are expanding the network of direct correspondent accounts in the national currencies between the banks of Russia and the friendly countries, and the list of the currencies of the friendly countries that are trading on the Moscow Exchange,” he said.

The government and the central bank also prepared a step-by-step plan for launching trans-border settlements through the blockchain technology with utilization of digital financial assets, he added.

End