World Bank: economic recovery in countries close to Russia

Sanctions have not yet come into full effect on the Russian economy. This is a delay, said Anna Byrdie, deputy head of the Central Asia and Europe division at the World Bank. Many of Ukraine’s neighbors and Russia have not been hurt financially as the Bank expected.

– They are less affected than we thought they would be when we last analyzed in April. This depends on several factors, first of all, the Russian economy is less affected by higher energy prices, says Anna Bayerdi in an interview with Ecot.

While the sanctions are not yet fully enforced, guest workers in Russia also continue to send a lot of money back to their home countries. It says some countries have also captured the exports that Russia lost.

– I was just in Uzbekistan. Now Uzbekistan exports to countries that Russia can no longer access and also exports to Russia because Russia cannot import from certain other countries, says Anna Bayerdi of the World Bank to Ekot.

Russians who moved from their homeland also contributed to increased consumption outside Russia.

– A very interesting phenomenon is that the Russians who left Russia settled in countries such as Armenia and Georgia. This led to a boom in economic growth in those countries, according to Anna Birdy.

Anna Birdy, who is on the ground in Kyrgyzstan now with the World Bank, is helping countries in the region prepare for more challenging times next year. It concerns the livelihoods of the population most affected by the rise in energy and food prices. Support systems need updating, according to the World Bank.

“We see that the region is less affected than we thought, but the uncertainty is very high before 2023,” she says.

Beatrice Janzon
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