Russia Now Europe's Largest Economy - Presidential Aide

Moscow's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) confirmed a robust 5.5% GDP growth for the third quarter in December and upgraded its annual GDP growth estimate for January-September to 3%, up from the previous 2.9%.

Russia has become the largest economy in Europe, revealed Russian presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin in an interview with Expert magazine.

Globally, he also stated that the Russian economy sits just behind Japan in the race for the fourth-largest economy.

According to Oreshkin, "the so-called economies of the Global North - the United States, Japan, the EU - are gradually losing their role and importance."

"China has become the leading economy, Russia is now the largest economy in Europe and is closing in on Japan in the race for fourth rank. Asian economies have moved up significantly in the rankings, with India taking third place, Indonesia moving up to seventh place and poised to challenge Germany's sixth place in the near future," Oreshkin said.

According to the World Bank, China emerged as the world's largest economy in purchasing power parity terms in 2022. The United States secured second place, followed by India in third and Japan in fourth. Russia secured fifth place, while Germany remained in sixth.

Back in October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its 2023 GDP growth forecast for Russia to 2.2% growth compared to the earlier prediction of 1.5% in July. However, the outlook for 2024 has been adjusted downward to 1.1% from 1.3%.

The IMF noted “mixed effects” of Western sanctions on Russian crude oil exports in its latest World Economic Outlook. Despite sanctions, Russian export flows remained stable, and crude oil continues trading above the $60 price cap imposed by the G7 countries.

Earlier, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov hinted at a 3.5% GDP growth in 2023, but the formal forecast of 2,9% remained unchanged. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin was more optimistic and asserted a minimum 3.5% growth by the year's end, surpassing the ministry's official 2.8% forecast for 2023.