Russia will take “many years” to rebuild its economy if Western sanctions over Ukraine remain in place for a long time, the head of the audit chamber and former finance minister said Wednesday. “If sanctions remain at the current level, it will take about two years of reconstruction, no less,” Alexei Kudrin said. Kudrin also said that already soaring inflation could be as high as 20 percent by the end of the year. President Vladimir Putin says Russia’s economy has managed to weather the barrage of unprecedented sanctions imposed since he sent troops to Ukraine on February 24. The Russian government has not released a growth forecast for 2022, but the World Bank expects an 11.2 percent drop in GDP.

Source: The Guardian April 13, 2022 15:43 UTC