Le Figaro: Russia still performs great contrary to Western forecasts

The International Monetary Fund revised its forecasts for Russia in its recent study. It turns out that they are even more optimistic than Putin's forecasts, Le Figaro reports.

Russian President Putin said that the Russian economy would grow by 1.5 percent in 2024. At the same time, the IMF predicts a growth of 2.6 percent. Needless to say that all predictions about the condition of the Russian economy that one could hear from Western analysts lately were all about skepticism, decline and collapse, the French publication said.

Despite all skepticism, Vladimir Putin insisted that the Russian economy would demonstrate impressive results against the background of US and EU restrictions.

Putin was cautious in his remarks about the future of the Russian economy and predicted a moderate economic growth, but the growth rates that the Russian economy shows today are significantly higher that Putin thought, Le Figaro notes.

The main driving force of the Russian economy is industry. Large investments in the military-industrial complex are highly fruitful. Russia successfully markets crude oil and petroleum products and remains an important supplier of grains, metals and fertilisers to world markets.

In addition, Russia has replaced Western goods with Chinese and other Asian products. The West deprived Russia of $300 billion of sovereign assets, but the loss of such a significant amount had a limited impact on the Russian economy. In response, Russia refused to use the dollar in international transactions and opted for the Chinese yuan.

The West still believes in the long-term effect of sanctions. Some economists predict a possible decline in Russia's GDP by 15 percent. Yet, such forecasts are questionable, since there are no prerequisites for such a serious economic downturn, Le Figaro said.