The likelihood of a global economic recession and the aggravation of the influence of coronavirus on the global economy have become factors that foster turbulence around the world, Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to TASS.
“The coronavirus has very deep consequences for the global economy now and could potentially have more serious consequences for the global economy,” he said. “This is generally a set of signs of a possible global economic recession, which may be somewhere on the horizon.”
On Wednesday, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said the Russian economy is not at risk of contracting in 2020 and that consumer inflation is unlikely to accelerate above the target, playing down concerns about the ruble hitting a four-year low.
The Russian currency crashed this week after a global deal on cutting global oil output unexpectedly fell apart, sending oil prices, the mainstay of Russia’s economy, into a tailspin.
President Vladimir Putin ordered on Wednesday that the central bank and the government make sure that “any negative developments, linked to this processes, are minimized,” RIA state news agency reported.
“I’m confident that Russia will get through this turbulent period with dignity and calmly,” Putin said, adding that key industrial sectors would emerge from the situation significantly stronger, RIA quoted him as saying.
The Russian officials speaking out in support of the economy in the past days have not elaborated on measures they would take to avoid a contraction and to keep inflation at the check but highlighted the country’s reserves of around $570 billion.
