Mishustin announced the stability of the Russian economy to many risks

The Russian economy continues to adapt to current challenges and demonstrates resilience to many risks amid sanctions pressure, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting on economic issues, an excerpt of which published in the Telegram channel of the government of the Russian Federation.

“Our economy continues to adapt to current challenges, showing resilience to a range of risks. This was largely the result of the fulfillment of the President’s instructions and the measures that we developed and included in the plan of priority actions to ensure development in the face of external sanctions pressure,” the Prime Minister said.

Mishustin also noted that the data on Russia’s GDP turned out to be much better than the initial forecasts; at the end of the year, the fall in the economy could be less than 3%. At the same time, for the first nine months of 2022, the overall increase in industrial production amounted to 0.4% compared to the previous year. Agriculture is also performing well this year with a 25% increase in grain harvest compared to 2021. The manufacturing industry also showed positive dynamics, showing a growth of 6.8% in the third quarter, as well as the construction sector.

The Prime Minister also drew attention to the continued slowdown in inflation, which as of November 14 amounted to 12.4% in annual terms, which is less than in a number of European countries. The unemployment rate is still very low at 4%, Mishustin added.

Earlier, the Bank of Russia, in its updated forecast, estimated the decline in GDP at 3-3.5% by the end of 2022. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Economy, GDP this year will decrease by 2.9%, in 2023 – by 0.8%, in 2024 -2025 the economy will grow at 2.6% per year. The head of the Accounts Chamber of Russia, Alexei Kudrin, noted that the decline would be 2.9-3.3%, and called the forecast of the Ministry of Economics for the next year “quite realistic.” The Ministry of Economics earlier predicted inflation by the end of the year at 12.4%. A year earlier, this figure was 8.4%. It is assumed that in 2023 consumer price growth will be at the level of 5.5%, and in the future it will reach the target level of 4%.

In October, the World Bank improved an estimate of the fall of the Russian economy in 2022 from 8.9 to 4.5% and 3.6% in 2023. In 2024, the economy may already return to growth, the WB believes. In the Ministry of Economics, this forecast was considered too conservative and does not take into account the planned and ongoing government decisions to support the economy.

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