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global economy and has become a turning point for the world's future, said the deputy head of the IMF, Gita Gopinath. The war has increased fragmentary pressures and led to an increase in defence spending, while countries have also worked to implement measures to strengthen their economic and national security. Gopinath explains that such measures now help countries adapt to the new reality of conflicts. However, over the decades, these measures "will make the global economy more vulnerable to shocks, with higher inflationary pressures, lower potential output growth, and instability in public finances."
The economic damage Ukraine has suffered is enormous: production volume has become 25% lower than the pre-war level, and a significant part of the capital has been destroyed. At the same time, the Russian war created consequences on a global scale, primarily for Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Inflation has affected countries dependent on Russian gas and grain exports from Ukraine. The war also affected economic growth in the region and forced countries to increase defence spending.
The economic growth of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) countries exceeded the global rate - in 2023 GDP of the EEU countries increased by 3.8%, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in an expanded format.
"Based on last year's results, the GDP of ‘the five’ grew by 3.8%, surpassing global growth rates. Real wages are steadily increasing, unemployment rates are decreasing - all this against the backdrop of an unfavorable external environment, the formation of a new architecture of international relations, and growing sanctions pressure, primarily on Russia and Belarus," he said.
Mishustin added that since the creation of the EEU, the volume of mutual trade has almost doubled, agricultural production has increased by more than a quarter, and industrial production by more than 20%. "This quarter, these two indicators added another 1.5% and 5.5%, respectively," he said, citing the data from the Russian statistics.
He stressed that over the course of 10 years, the EEU has created a unique supranational regulatory system with uniform requirements for goods entering the territory of participating countries. Mishustin also recalled that more than 50 technical regulations have been adopted, covering about 85% of products on the unified market, which is important for providing citizens with high-quality and reliable goods and simplifying trade.
"We should develop such mechanisms, involving members of the CIS and other nations with which we have particularly tight economic connections. This will enable us to successfully eliminate obstacles for manufacturers by utilizing already proven tools," he noted.
According to Mishustin, the main macroeconomic indicators of all member countries of the EEU show positive dynamics, although there is still room for improvement. "In all 'the five' countries we see positive dynamics in the main macroeconomic indicators," he said.
At the same time, Mishustin noted, the EEU countries have achieved certain successes together in terms of integration, supporting each other in the most difficult situations. "We have something to be proud of and something to strive for," he said. Mishustin also quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow in early May that the EEU "brings real benefits to each of the members of the association."
55 UKRAINE Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com