DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) – A top Russian official says the country’s economic crisis will worsen and is likely to be longer than the last one in 2008-2009.
During a debate Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov said Russia is “going into a longer crisis” compared with seven years ago, when it was battered for about two years by the global crisis.
Russia has for the past year been sliding into recession amid a slump in its energy export prices as well as Western sanctions.
Shuvalov said Russia should focus on cushioning the economic fall through reforms and supporting the financial system. “It is going to get worse and the anti-crisis plan should be aimed at adapting to the hard landing (of the economy).”