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Russia’s prospects for good macroeconomic development

Amid the current worldwide economic crisis, “Russia’s GDP has fallen by 3.6%, which is less than in the leading EU countries, and less than in the United States. Its industrial production is down 3% now — mainly due to oil, the OPEC Plus deal and cuts in oil production, while processing industries showed 1.1% growth in November,” Vladimir Putin said at an annual news conference, presidential web page reports.

Credit: kremlin.ru
Credit: kremlin.ru

Over the past few years, Russia’s agricultural industry has posted good figures, and now it is somewhere around up 1.8%. Agriculture might not even show a decline for the year, but an increase of up to 2%,” he noted. “The banking sector is in a very satisfactory condition, with profits estimated at about RUR 1.3 tln ($17.3 bln) for the year. This definitely testifies to the financial system’s stability. Real wages will grow by about 1.5% by the end of the year across Russia, although unfortunately, there will be a decline in real disposable incomes by around 3%. Unemployment rate in Russian was 4.7% at the beginning of 2020; now it has grown to 6.3%.”

Yet “A positive trade balance can be considered a good indicator. It creates conditions for good macroeconomic development. The national debt had been at its lowest at $70 bln. It shrank by another $10 bln since. Russia borrows less in foreign markets, while regularly servicing all its loan obligations. Hard currency reserves have grown. At the beginning of this year, they amounted to $554.4 bln; as of December 4, they are about $587.7 bln. The same holds true for the National Wealth Fund which was RUR 7.7 tln ($100 bln), now it is almost 13.5 tln.”

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