Kristalina Georgieva: The year will be difficult, but Europe is freeing itself from Russian dependence
This year will be difficult for most of the world economy, half of the EU countries will fall into recession due to the conflict in Ukraine. This was stated by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, in an interview with CBS, aired on Sunday. She was asked to comment on one of the latest IMF reports, which predicts a “year of turbulence” and the fund believes “the worst is yet to come”.
“This is what we will see in 2023. It will be a tough year for much of the global economy, tougher than what we are leaving behind. Why? Because the growth rates of the three largest economies – the US, the EU and China – they are slowing down at the same time,” Georgieva said in an interview taped in December last year. The countries of the European Union, he continued, “have suffered very seriously” from the war of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. “Half of the European Union will be in recession,” Georgieva stressed in this regard.
Asked whether European governments would collapse in that case, he replied: “Governments function perfectly well under incredibly difficult conditions. No, they won’t.” “And what’s also remarkable is that the world has actually turned out to be more resilient than we thought it was a year ago.” We are seeing the reaction to energy shocks in Europe and Europe is moving decisively towards independence from Russia.
Yes, it will be a tough winter, maybe the next one will be even tougher, but freedom from dependence on Russia is coming. It will be achieved,” Georgieva said. She confirmed that the fund estimates that “a third of the global economy will be in recession” in 2023.
