The European Commission expects Russia’s GDP to decline 5% in 2020 due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which is more than double the 2.3% decline in 2015 caused by falling oil prices and Western sanctions, TASS reported.
This assessment is contained in the European Commission’s spring economic forecast published on Wednesday. In this outlook the EC revised its previous expectations for all countries downwards.
At the same time, the European Commission has upgraded its forecast for Russia’s GDP growth in 2021 from 1.5 percent to 1.6 percent, Urdu Point News writes.
“Russia faces a double hit from sharply lower oil prices and lockdown-driven deceleration in domestic demand in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Against this backdrop a sharp slump in economic activity is expected in the first half of 2020,” the European Commission said in its new report.
The European Commission also expects Russia’s oil revenues to “shrink by half if current price trends continue, putting further pressure on export-related incomes.”
