Why Russia’s wartime economy is starting to crack, with Elina Ribakova

When the EU and US hit Russia with fresh sanctions in 2022, many analysts expected the country’s economy to crack. Instead, Russia has shown strong GDP growth, powered in large part by a massive boost to war-related industries. Now, the effects of that boost appear to be fading. Have western sanctions finally started to bite? What would happen to Russia’s economy if the Ukraine war were to end? And how difficult might it be for the country’s economy to return to normal? To find out, the FT’s economics editor Sam Fleming speaks to Elina Ribakova. Elina is a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a non-resident fellow at Brussels think-tank Bruegel and vice-president for foreign policy at the Kyiv School of Economics.

Sam Fleming is the FT’s economics editor. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/sam-fleming

Want more? Free links:

Russia moves to contain concern over banks’ bad loan exposure

Vladimir Putin’s war economy is cooling, but Russians still feel richer

Russia’s central bank speeds up rate cuts as war economy cools

There's no money to be made in Russia

The FT Weekend Festival returns for its 10th edition on Saturday, September 6 at Kenwood House Gardens in London. Get details and tickets here

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Presented by Sam Fleming. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Original music from Breen Turner, and sound design by Breen Turner & Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.