The Russian economy will return to growth in 2021. This was stated by the head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, speaking at the Global Summit of Production and Industrialization GMIS-2020 on Friday, September 4.
“We expect that the economy will decline by 5% by the end of this year, and it will return to growth within the next year,” TASS quoted him as saying.
Earlier on Friday, Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the points of the country’s economic recovery plan for 2020-2021 were presented to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and are currently being discussed.
At the end of August, Putin announced that Russia was past the peak of economic problems. According to him, growing gold and foreign exchange reserves help to fulfill all social obligations.
The head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina acknowledged on September 3 that the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic would be long-term for the domestic economy. In late July, she said that in Russia, the recovery of economic activity could take more than a year and a half. Then she predicted a fall in Russian exports this year by 13-15% due to a decrease in external demand. In her opinion, this is what will make the most significant contribution to the decline in the country’s GDP.
Aide to the President of Russia Maxim Oreshkin said at the end of August that the fall in Russia’s GDP this year could be 4%.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reported in June that real GDP in 2020 will fall by 4.8%. In 2021–2023, the figure, according to the ministry, should accelerate to 3.2, 2.9 and 3.1%.