Russian economic growth better than expected amid Western sanctions & global slowdown

The Russian economy expanded by 1.4 percent last year, the Ministry of Economic Development has said in its latest report. Annual growth is weaker than in 2018, but beat the ministry’s own forecast.

GDP rose 2.3 percent in the last quarter of 2019, bringing the annual results 0.1 percent higher than the Ministry of Economic Development earlier projected. Non-primary industries and taxes, as well as the manufacturing sector contributed most to the results, the report released on Tuesday says.

In 2018, Russia’s GDP added 2.5 percent, according to the document, while the World Bank said that growth stood at 2.3 percent, the highest in six years, despite tightening Western economic sanctions against Russia.

Global growth decelerated to 2.9 percent last year, the slowest pace since the global financial crisis, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The forecast for 2020 is more positive, with the global economy set to expand 3.3 percent. However, the lender said that the rebound is highly sensitive to US-China trade negotiations, while the world’s two biggest economies are still trying to hammer out a comprehensive agreement to end their longstanding trade war.

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