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The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has described the Russian economy as resilient in the face of Western sanctions and said that Russia is maintaining economic growth while keeping unemployment at record lows and reining in inflation. He was speaking at the “Russia Calling!” Investment Forum on Tuesday (December 2).
Putin said the economy is expected to grow from 0.5% to 1% this year, which many Western analysts have stated means that growth is suppressed and that sanctions are working. However, Putin said that the lower growth figures were a result of the central bank’s efforts to curb inflation, which is now expected to drop to 6%—well below government forecasts. Inflation has fallen five consecutive months from 8.8% at the beginning of the year. In 2023, when sanctions first began to bite, inflation hit 13.75%.
The banking sector is also expected to show good results this year by generating a profit of around ₽3.5 trillion (US$45 billion), Putin said, while Russia’s unemployment rate is just 2.2%.
The Russian government and the Central Bank have a “consensus” on issues of economic development, according to Putin. He said that Russia’s national debt will remain “one of the lowest in the world,” adding that the nation was able to secure funding for all its “key priorities,” including social spending, defense and security, and national development projects.
He said that “Russia definitely feels the external pressure. Yet, Russia and our economy successfully meet these challenges.”
Putin added that Western nations were resorting to anti-competitive practices to retain their exclusive monopoly on global markets, saying that “The West has imposed an unprecedented number of sanctions aimed at crippling the Russian economy since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. These sanctions have failed to destabilize the economy or isolate it from the global financial system.”
Putin said most nations, including India and China, kept a “rational and pragmatic” approach toward working with Russia, resulting in dramatic growth in trade in recent years.
Quick 2025 Comparison
| Country | GDP (PPP) | Growth | Unemployment | Inflation | GDP/Debt |
| United States | 30.6T | 1.9% | 4.4% | 3.0% | 125% |
| EU | 29.2T | 1.4% | 6.3% | 2.5% | 88.2% |
| China | 41.0T | 5.0% | 5.1% | 0.2% | 96.26% |
| India | 17.65T | 8.2% | 5.2% | 1.4% | 81.59% |
| Russia | 7.68T | 1.0% | 2.2% | 6.0% | 14.7% |
| UK | 4.45T | 1.5% | 5.0% | 3.7% | 95.3% |
(Source: IMF)
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