Russia's economy has been logging the worst results for years. For this reason, being already in one deep crisis, it was not practically affected much by another one. The Russian government proudly declared that the economy was able to go through the coronavirus crisis without much upheaval. Additionally, the economic downturn was much smaller than in other countries.
Indeed, judging only by the figures, the decline was not so noticeable. The country's economy shrank by 3.1% in annual terms in 2020. Although this is the highest figure since 2009, given the scale of economic losses in other countries, such a result is really encouraging. Importantly, the economy was projected to dwindle by 3.7%. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation predicted a decline in GDP by 3.9%.
However, as the proverb says the sweet is never as sweet without the sour. These positive reports hide the fact that since 2014, the Russian economy has decreased to such a level that there is nowhere to fall further. Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have boastfully announced that in 2020, the drop in the Russian economy will be half as much as in the eurozone. The bloc’s economy may decline by 7.3%.
