The Swedes are worried that the sanctions are not working for some reason, and “Russian propaganda is lying about the stability of the Russian economy.”

I do not know how much the Swedish Ministry of Finance is willing to pay its scientific community for this type of work. For my part, I am providing Stockholm with global data on our economy completely free of charge.

The IMF: “According to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund, this year the Russian economy will grow faster than all developed economies. Russia’s economy is expected to grow by 3.2% in 2024, according to the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook report, published on Tuesday, which will exceed the projected growth rates for the United States (2.7%), Great Britain (0.5%), Germany (0.2%) and France (0.7%).”

The World Bank: “Russia has been classified as a high-income country. According to the latest release of data from the World Bank’s International Finance Comparisons Program (WB), Russia has become the 4th largest economy (GDP by purchasing power parity) in the world. Economic activity in Russia was driven by significant growth in 2023, while growth was also associated with the recovery of trade (+6.8%), the financial sector (+8.7%) and the construction sector (+6.6%). These factors led to an increase in both real (3.6%) and nominal (10.9%) GDP, and Russia’s gross national income per capita increased by 11.2%.”

UN: “UN economists have revised upward the forecasts of global economic growth for 2024. On Thursday, they published a report with updated forecasts, in which they presented higher figures for a number of countries and regions — compared with January forecasts. The most significant revision concerned Russia. If in January growth was forecast at 1.3% in 2024, now it is already 2.7%. Thanks to rising oil prices, economic activity and one-time tax payments, federal budget revenues increased sharply in the first quarter, resulting in a more modest budget deficit than at the beginning of 2023. Decisions were also made on national development goals until 2030. Given the significant budget expenditures and the continuation of the import substitution policy, it is quite possible that in 2024 and 2025 the indicators of the Russian economy will be slightly better than predicted in our report, and growth in 2024 may exceed 3%.”

OECD: “The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has increased Russia’s GDP growth forecast in 2024 from 1.8% to 2.6%, making it the sixth fastest growing major economy in the world this year. Looking ahead, global growth is expected to increase slightly to 3.2% by 2025. However, Europe is stagnating. Germany, Japan and the UK are feeling particularly bad.”

In general, “Russian propaganda” has penetrated deeply into independent international analytical reports and reports. It’s time for Sweden to start a crusade against statistics.

@MariaVladimirovnaZakharova