Beata Javorczyk, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), said Russia has persevered and overcome the pressure of Western sanctions.
According to her, this was achieved thanks to a prudent and stable fiscal policy and trade diplomacy, which allowed Russia to find new markets instead of European ones.
In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, she added: “The expectation that Western sanctions would lead to a financial or currency crisis in Russia was overly optimistic. The Russian economy has been under sanctions since 2014. Russians prioritize macroeconomic stability over growth and are very disciplined, when it comes to budgeting. Inflation was also actively fought. In addition, a specialized team of technocrats is working in Russia, who managed to stabilize the economy after the sanctions.”
Speaking about the decline in trade with the West and Ukraine, the expert noted that instead, Moscow is actively working with non-Western countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, with which trade has grown significantly.
On February 25, the European Union imposed a new, tenth, package of sanctions against Russia, which expanded restrictions on imports and exports, as well as a new ban on the work of Russian media.
Source: News