IMF: Russian economy will grow faster than the US

The International Monetary Fund expects that Russia’s economy will grow by 3.2% in 2024, outpacing all advanced economies, including the US. Despite the war, high investment and robust private consumption have driven Russia’s economy forward. The IMF expects this momentum to fade in 2025, with Russia growing at a rate of 1.8%.

The surge in growth is linked to the effects of high investment and robust private consumption, buoyed by wage growth in a tight labor market. However, the IMF expects these effects to taper off in 2025, with a growth rate of 1.8%.

This forecast is a wake-up call for Western countries that have hoped to throttle Russia’s economy with sanctions to make its war in Ukraine unsustainable. Russia’s resilience against Western sanctions is largely due to its boundless alliance with China, which saw trade volume between the two countries surge to a record $240 billion last year.