Official figures released Wednesday showed that Russia’s economy grow for the second quarter in a row, even though high inflation and Western sanctions have made the ruble weaker.
According to the federal statistics office, the economy grew by 5.5% year-over-year in the third quarter. This was after shrinking at the same time last year.
In 2022, Russia’s economy fell, but it began to grow again in the second quarter of this year, ending a string of four quarters in a row when it shrank.
Officials think the economy will get better in 2023. For the whole year, the Central Bank predicts growth of 2.2% to 2.7%.
Maxim Reshetnikov, the minister of the economy, said last week that growth should be 3% per year.
After Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the West hit it with sanctions that had never been seen before. \
Since then, Moscow has sent a lot of its important oil and gas products to China and India. To support the ruble, which still trades at around 90 rubles to the dollar, it has also put controls on the currency.
President Vladimir Putin has praised Russia’s economy, even though the West has put sanctions on it.
But outside experts say that a big rise in military spending is causing other problems, even though it is good for the economy.
Prices are always going up because unemployment is at an all-time low and inflation has gone through the roof.
To try to control inflation, the central bank has raised interest rates to 15%.
In Russia, people are very sensitive to price increases because the country has had several instances of high inflation since the fall of the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
Before the March 2024 presidential election, the Kremlin wants to project the economy as an area of strength.
