DISINFO: World Bank says Russia is the world’s 5th largest economy leaving Germany behind EU
SUMMARY
The West wanted to destroy Russia economically. But according to the World Bank, Russia is now among the world’s five largest economies and has overtaken Germany. Russia’s industry is growing steadily while Europe is facing a sweeping recession.
RESPONSE
This is a part of a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Russia is developing steadily despite international sanctions, while the EU is facing severe economic hardship. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In reality, the World Bank never announced that Russia is the world’s 5th largest economy. There are several ways to determine the size of a national economy. Pro-Kremlin Russian experts rate the size of its economy judging by the absolute value of the gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity (PPP); the latter indicating how much one USD can buy you inside Russia but does not speak about the size in global GDP. There are several other more precise methods to rate a country’s economy, which Pro-Kremlin experts usually omit. (See a more detailed explanation here). Taking into consideration these tools, the Russian economy is faring worse.
Since Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s peninsula of Crimea and instigated a separatist revolt in the East of Ukraine in 2014, the EU has imposed sanctions on Moscow. These restrictive measures have targeted both Russia’s economy and certain Russian individuals closely linked to Putin. The list of sanctions has widened since Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
Eleven packages have been adopted so far, which has crippled Russian economy significantly. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported in May 2023 that Russia's earnings from oil and gas exports fell to £6.5 billion ($8.1 billion) a month in April 2023, from £18.2 billion ($22.5 billion) because of anti-Russian sanctions. Meanwhile, growth in the EU and the euro area was estimated at 3.5% for 2022. It proves that the EU economy is resilient to energy market fluctuations. Also, the diversification of energy supplies is one of the cornerstones of the EU’s energy policy as it helps to strengthen European energy security, to prevent the monopolisation of the energy market and to introduce more competition to the energy market.
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