The Russian economy may not overcome impacts of another COVID-19 lockdown, said Natalya Zubarevich, director of the regional program at Institute for Social Policy.
According to the expert, major cities have been most affected by the lockdown measures; these are areas that have an advanced market services sector, which was temporarily paralyzed and has been hit hardest by the pandemic. Many companies that operate in this sector have suffered losses of tens of percent, she noted in her column in The Insider.
The lockdown also took a toll on large export-oriented enterprises, which lost past of their revenues due to a drop in global energy prices, she added.
The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated a crisis of the national economy; in particular, it has led to increasing unemployment and a drop in consumer demand, Natalya Zubarevich concluded.