This is one of the many economic consequences of the war in Ukraine. Nine months after the start of the conflict, Russia entered an economic recession, with a decline in its gross domestic product (GDP) of 4% in the third quarter, according to an initial assessment published Wednesday, November 16 by the statistics agency Rosstat. An announcement that was made in the wake of a second quarter already weighed down (-4.1%) by the heavy Western sanctions taken in the spring against Moscow.
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After two consecutive negative quarters, Russia is therefore in a technical recession, according to the commonly used definition. The previous one dated back to 2020-early 2021, years marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Military mobilization has penalized a third of Russian companies
Limited imports and exports, shortage of personnel exacerbated by military mobilization, difficulties in supplying spare parts… The problems encountered by Russian companies are multiple. Structurally, the Russian economy is thus more than ever dependent on the energy windfall, responsible for approximately 40% of federal revenues.
According to the cabinet of Boris Titov, representative of entrepreneurs to the Kremlin, almost a third of 5,800 Russian companies recently questioned have suffered a drop in their revenues in recent months. And the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, announced on September 21 by Vladimir Putin, affected a third of companies, according to this survey cited by the daily Kommersant. A significant proportion, despite the government’s efforts to financially support the companies concerned.