Medvedev says the West’s sanctions will hurt a lot more in 2015

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says Western sanctions in 2014 cost the Russian economy roughly 25 billion dollars—a whole 1.5 percent of the national GDP. Medvedev also warns that the damage could be several times worse in 2015.

Medvedev made this announcement in a speech at the Duma today, where he presented a government report based on the conclusions of several foreign experts.

In the first three months of 2015, Russian GDP fell by 2 percent, and industrial production slipped 0.4 percent. “The most significant decline, of course, was observed in investments,” Medvedev said, adding that the economic situation could have been a lot worse. According to the government, the Russian economy is adapting to the ruble’s changing exchange rate. Medvedev says “unemployment is still within reasonable parameters.” 

“I’m not going to list all the sanctions we’ve been living under for nearly a year now. But there’s almost no economic sector that hasn’t been affected, beginning with the financial sector—in the form of restrictions on access to foreign credits—and ending with sanctions on technological imports,” Medvedev said.

According to a forecast by the Ministry of Economic Development, Russia’s GDP will contract 3 percent in 2015. By the end of 2015, or in the beginning of 2016, the ministry expects the Russian economy to begin growing again.