“When you take our forecasts for the medium term, they mean that the Russian economy will shrink by at least 7%,” said Kristalina Georgieva.
Russia’s economy will suffer over time, she said, with workers emigrating, cutting off access to technology, and imposing sanctions on the country’s energy industry.
As Georgieva noted, despite the fact that Russia has managed to funnel some of its oil sales outside European markets to China and India, this will not have a “lasting impact” on the country’s economy.
“We don’t see Russia getting any benefit from what it has done to Ukraine and to itself,” the head of the IMF stressed.
As reported, the unprecedented sanctions of Western countries significantly affected the Russian economy, but failed to bring it down, as expected immediately after the invasion of Ukraine. Some restrictions were introduced only at the end of last year and even at the beginning of 2023 and will have a long-term effect for many more years.
In particular, Russia avoided economic collapse after President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine began. However, this is only the first act of a slowly smoldering crisis that will play out in the coming years.
