Russia admits that it was on the verge of economic collapse

Officials in Moscow have acknowledged that Russia's economy was on the brink of collapse last year, but say the country has overcome Western sanctions over the Ukraine war and is on track for strong growth this year, despite analysts' gloomy forecasts. , according to businessinsider.com.

"There was a threat of collapse, we really had to mobilize all internal resources and forces to prevent this collapse," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recently, quoted by the TASS state news agency. He added that the economic pressure was largely caused by the sanctions that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions included cutting off Russia's foreign exchange reserves of about $300 billion, removing some banks from the international SWIFT network and implementing a ban, or a $60 price ceiling, on Russian oil, one of the country's main sources of revenue. the nation.

But Russia has successfully recovered and is now entering a growth stage, Peskov said. The Kremlin now anticipates that Russia could grow by up to 3% this year, which is above the 2.2% estimate released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Thanks to the rather insightful and wise decisions of the country's leadership, thanks to the titanic work of the government, it was possible to reach a plateau, to stabilize the economic situation and then, in an absolutely unexpected way, to enter a growth trend" , concluded Peskov.

• Russia: Budget deficit of around 1% of GDP in 2023

Russia's budget deficit will be approximately 1% of GDP in 2023, announced yesterday the Minister of Finance from Moscow, Anton Siluanov, marking the latest improvement in Moscow's fiscal situation, in the context of the increase in budget revenues, reports Reuters.

Higher oil prices and higher tax payments have helped the Russian government narrow its budget deficit, which was expected to be much higher this year, with some economists forecasting a deficit of 5% of GDP in 2023.

"Revenues from gas production have increased, the economy is functioning and the growth rates allow us to talk about the increase in budget revenues," said Siluanov, according to Agerpres.

In the first ten months of this year, Russia's budget deficit stood at 1.24 trillion rubles ($13.82 billion) or 0.7% of GDP. The budget law for 2023 provides for a deficit of 2,930 billion rubles, or 2% of GDP.

Last year, Russia recorded a budget deficit of 3,290 billion rubles. In order to cover the fiscal hole, Russia has already spent this year 559 billion rubles from the sovereign fund, where the revenues from the country's oil exports are accumulated.