The International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees deep economic contractions for Russia and Ukraine, the protagonists of the war that has further slowed down the world economic recovery.
For Ukraine, the recipient of Russian attacks, economists at the IMF they project a 35% collapse in their GDP this year.
“Even if the war ends soon, the loss of life, destruction of physical capital and the exodus of citizens will severely impede the activity for several years to come,” they stressed inside the World Economic Outlook (WEO, for its acronym in English)
The expected collapse for the Russian economy is 8.5% in the base scenario of the Monetary Fund. A rate that incorporates the cut of 11.3 points compared to the January estimate that the agency had, when it projected a growth of 3.2 percent.
This cut incorporates the impact of the economic sanctions that the West is imposing on Russia in retaliation for the warlike invasion it is leading of Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine are of central importance in the world food. In fact, Ukraine is identified as “the granary of Europe” due to its contribution of cereals such as wheat and sunflower oils. While Russia is the third largest oil exporter in the world.