Economic authorities discussed how to live after victory over sanctions

The Russian economy has coped with the sanctions, largely thanks to the restructuring from the “sick” Western markets to the “healthy” Eastern ones, but it is too early to rejoice at this: the new partners are not going to give gifts either. This conclusion was reached by the discussion participants at the plenary session of the Moscow Financial Forum “In search of a new balance: the Russian financial and economic system in the period of global transformation.” It was attended by presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, Bank of Russia Chairman Elvira Nabiullina, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and VTB CEO Andrei Kostin.

The unilateral severance of previous economic ties by Western partners has aggravated many issues, but the most difficult period has passed, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted in his welcoming speech to the forum participants. According to him, by the middle of this year the economy had almost completely recovered to pre-crisis levels and today is “going through a large-scale transformation.” At the same time, to the question of how exactly to ensure this restructuring – to work the old fashioned way using classic “market methods” or to develop fundamentally new mechanisms for managing the economy – none of the participants in the discussion gave a definite answer.