PM: Russian economy perseveres sanctions, resumes growth

MOSCOW, Mar 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy has withstood the impact of sanctions, and gross domestic product (GDP) has resumed growth instead of having a double-digit fall expected by the West, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday during a government report to the parliament’s lower chamber State Duma.

“Last spring, analysts estimated the possible fall of Russia’s GDP at double digits, but we persevered. It was difficult, and a fall, which was unavoidable in these conditions, was rather moderate. Still, we returned the economy to growth,” he said.

Now, the international organizations forecast growth for Russia’s GDP in 2023 and growth outstripping the developed countries in 2024, and this is not the first time that the Russian economy has shown such flexibility, he said.

The West hit Russia with a sanction blow of an unseen ferocity, but the government worked on countermeasures in order to protect the people and drive the economy forward, he said.

The West used all possible means against Russia – it blew up the Nord Stream pipelines, arrested accounts, disconnected banks from the international settlement system, and tried to block all economic activities. It tried to force mass unemployment, hurt the standard of living, and ruin the financial system. They targeted Russians with sanctions, and assets and money of Russians and Russian firms are arrested in the west simply because Russians own them, Mishustin said.

But work of the central bank normalized operations of banks, the foreign currency market, and the stock market. All banking cards continued working in Russia in spite of the sanctions, and even Russian business managed to adapt to the situation and rebuild commodity and logistics chains, he said.

In 2022, 83 foreign companies with Russian ownership became residents of the special administrative regions of Russia on the Oktyabrsky and Russky islands, a threefold increase as compared with 2021, he said.

Mishustin also said that fulfillment of annual plans by the majority of national projects in 2022 was close to 100%, and the government ensured construction of schools, roads, and hospitals.

End