The decline in the Russian economy this year may be up to 4.5%. This was stated by the head of the Accounts Chamber Alexei Kudrin, speaking at the “All-Russian Civil Forum – 2020” on Saturday, November 28.
“The European economy will fall by about 8% this year, even 9%, and the UK by 11%. We, as official statistics say, – by 3.9%. I think more than 4%, maybe 4.5%, ”TASS quoted Kudrin as saying.
He noted the decline in living standards over the past five years, adding that the situation with the coronavirus will further reduce the rate.
“After the last five years before COVID, our standard of living fell by about 10%, then already this year we will have a very high drop. In the second quarter this is more than 8% of the decline in living standards, in the third quarter – already 4.5%, ”he said.
The head of the Accounts Chamber expressed the opinion that in the coming years the number of Russians living below the poverty line will increase. “We have about 1 million [человек] poverty will increase. Unfortunately, in the coming years we will not rebound so much, ”he concluded.
On November 24, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following the results of annual consultations with Russia, did not rule out the deterioration of the forecast for the dynamics of the country’s GDP, despite the “signs of a healthy recovery.” The fund noted that business activity in the coming months may decrease if more stringent restrictive measures are required.
On November 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the APEC summit, announced that Russia’s GDP could decline by 3.9% this year.
At the end of October, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade Maxim Reshetnikov noted that the Russian economy could recover to pre-crisis indicators in the second half of 2021.