Russia to counter unfair competition attempts amid decline in prices of Russian exports - Deputy FM Pankin
MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - The drop in prices of Russia's key exports and the contraction of their sales markets as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic pose the main challenges to formulating a strategy of Russia's economic diplomacy for the upcoming period, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said.
"The decline in prices of the main domestic exports and the shrinkage of the relevant sales markets pose the biggest threat to Russia," Pankin said in an interview with Interfax.
"In these conditions, Russian economic diplomacy is facing a difficult task to counter attempts to use political instruments with the aim of obtaining competitive economic advantages," he said.
"In the current situation, it is important to shift focus to the need to broaden international cooperation and coordinate efforts in order to weaken the devastating impact of the epidemic on the global economy," he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry assumes that "the situation in the world economy was a matter of serious concern even before the coronavirus began spreading. According to IMF estimates, the growth rates of global GDP and international trade stood at 2.9% and 0.3%, respectively, in 2019, posting all-time lows in a decade. The global debt situation continues worsening as well," he said.
"The spread of coronavirus has caused disruptions to international and national supplies, has broken up the global value added chains, and has unbalanced demand and supply. The systemic imbalance of financial and raw materials markets has increased. In addition to the already existing trade disagreements and the introduction of various restrictive measures, uncertainty has grown over the functioning of the global economy as an integral system," the diplomat said.
"In the best-case scenario - if we manage to cope with the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of the year - the world economy will recover from it only next year, at the same time falling short by around $9 trillion," Pankin said.