- A former Russian economy minister warned of a looming financial crisis in Russia, per local outlet The Insider.
- "It's not that we're in the shit, it's that we've decided to settle down in it," Andrei Nechayev, a former economy minister said.
A former Russian economy minister has blasted the country's $4 and warned of a looming financial crisis.
"It's not that we're in the shit, it's that we've decided to settle down in it," Andrei Nechayev, Russia's former economy minister, said at a financial forum last week, according to a translation by $4.
The outlet has no affiliation with Insider.
A video of his comment at a panel discussion was uploaded to Telegram on May 16 by $4 a local media outlet. Nechayev's comment triggered some nervous laughter from the audience, the video shows. One person even applauded.
Nechayev, who was Russia's first economic minister from 1992 to 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union, also warned of a looming economic crisis for the country.
Per The Insider, Russia has already exceeded its budget deficit plan for the first four months of 2023. Nechayev said Moscow has enough reserves to cover the deficit for just one year but will have to borrow thereafter.
Russia reported a federal budget deficit of 3.42 trillion rubles, or $42.5 billion, in the first four months of 2023 — overshooting its full-year plan for a deficit of 2.9 trillion rubles, $4 citing official data.
Russia's economic situation isn't surprising — $4 in the first quarter of 2023, thanks to a G7-led $4 on seaborne crude and $4.
Russia has also tried to counter the sanctions by either importing from non-sanctioning countries or substituting with $4. But it hasn't been very successful, particularly for high-tech products, analysts at $4 a Brussels-based think tank, wrote in March 2022.
$4, saying that while McDonald's can be replaced by blinis — or Russian pancakes — there are no substitutes for high-tech products. He was referring to the $4 from Russia last year following the invasion of Ukraine.
The former minister isn't the first high-profile voice to warn of Russia's technological decline following the sanctions.
"The world will move forward, but Russia will only use some second-grade technology and spend huge resources to recreate what there already is in the world, but can't be imported," $4 a former high-level finance ministry and central bank official, told $4 in an interview last September.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.