-
Attendance at Putin’s economic forum in St. Petersburg was low due to Russia’s isolation from the global economy.
-
Previously, the event was attended by celebrities from Western countries, but this time it was mostly attended by lower-level politicians.
-
Experts are sounding alarm bells for the Russian economy amid Ukrainian war sanctions.
The low attendance of President Vladimir Putin’s flagship economic forum this year also shows how Russia’s war on Ukraine has isolated Russia from the global economy.
Russia’s annual event in St. Petersburg has traditionally been attended by heavyweights such as French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but Wednesday’s event will see no such event. The number of people did not gather.
Bloomberg reports that most Western politicians were absent, as were former Soviet neighbors.
Most of the attendees were junior politicians from the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. Russia is a region that is getting closer economically as Western sanctions cut Russia off from traditional means of trade.
Among the most notable attendees were Chinese officials such as Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Moscow, and Zhou Liqun, chairman of the Federation of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia.
Russia has significantly strengthened its trade ties with China over the past year, with officials vowing to build an “unrestricted” partnership and boost bilateral trade volumes to a new record in 2023. there is
But experts warn that the moat between Russia and the West could prove fatal to Russia’s economy. Despite the country’s stubborn defiance, the sanctions have hit Moscow’s finances hard, cutting oil and gas revenues by 50% and deepening the budget deficit. Russia is stepping up trade with China and other allies, but some experts say that could come at the cost of Russia’s independence.
While some forecasters expect the Russian economy to register modest growth this year, two Yale University researchers say such forecasts are based largely on “picked” Kremlin statistics, which suggest that the Russian economy will Putin recently claimed that it is much more difficult than announced. recently. One think tank predicts that the country could even become a failed state within the next decade.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post Putin’s Economic Forum Attendance Sluggish as Russia’s Isolation from Global Economy appeared first on Commerce Digest.
Commerce Digest 