Economic activity in Russia collapsed by one-third at the end of April compared to the baseline level observed before the lockdown, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said quoted by Reuters.
The economic activity implied in his statement includes the consumption of electricity, freight transportation, railroad handling, trade and services, as well as exports and imports.
Overall, these industries combined shrank 33%. Also, based on the Economic Development Ministry’s monitoring, companies and facilities that account for 28% of jobs in Russia had to limit operation due to the coronavirus lockdown orders.
“The federal budget is running a 5-6% deficit, and GDP is down 4-6%. Painful, but still bearable,” says economist Sergei Khestanov, Associate Professor at RANEPA. “The problem is that unemployment in services and non-food retail is highly likely to increase. And workers in these industries are concentrated in big cities. In the countryside, cafes and barbershops are not very popular.”