The head of VTB, Kostin, said that he was rather optimistic about the prospects for the Russian economy and expressed hope that it would return to pre-crisis levels by autumn. He considered this at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Russia plans to return to economic growth this year, somewhere at the level of 3.7 percent… mainly due to the resource economy – international prices, as you can see, are good, starting with oil, ending with aluminum, nickel and so on. We are quite optimistic and hope that the Russian economy will return to the pre-crisis level by the autumn,” said the head of VTB.

The coronavirus pandemic became the main threat to the Russian economy in 2020: the authorities expected that closed borders, a drop in oil prices due to low demand, and domestic restrictions imposed by the virus would lead to a decrease in Russia’s GDP for the first time since 2015. According to experts, the decline in Russia’s GDP amounted to 3.8 percent in 2020. In 2021, the ministry forecasts economic growth of 3.3 percent.