Kostin: the structural restructuring of the Russian economy has just begun

President – Chairman of the Board VTB Andrei Kostin said that the structural restructuring of the economy in Russia has just begun, a Vedomosti correspondent reports.

“We only had structural restructuring at the very beginning; we couldn’t do it in a year and a half. This is a colossal task. So far, we have successfully reorganized export and import flows and replaced German cars with Chinese ones. <….> This is a huge task, I think we are celebrating too early,” he said.

As an example, Kostin cited enterprises in St. Petersburg, where employees, according to him, work on 90-year-old machines. “There are machines working there – but not all, fortunately, but many – made in Germany in 1932, exported as part of reparations. People there proudly say that we have a machine that is 90 years old. But this is not a historical monument,” he noted.

Kostin added that while he worked in the banking sector, he agreed with the work of restructuring the economy. According to him, in the 10 years before the “special situation”, the banking sector has changed dramatically.

In the summer, Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina notedthat the Russian economy is now developing according to the scenario of accelerated adaptation. She noted that perestroika is proceeding faster than expected, and negative forecasts have not come true.

On July 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with graduates of the RANEPA Higher School of Public Administration statedthat income from processing industries is increasing, which indicates a change in the structure of the Russian economy.