All news

World Bank recommends Russia Greek model of crisis recovery

The Russian government's key goal should be to guarantee macroeconomic stability, including stability in the financial sector, the World Bank lead economist for Russia believes

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The World Bank recommends Russia to follow the Greek scenario of overcoming the crisis. The key goal of the Russian government is to guarantee macroeconomic stability, including stability in the financial sector, WB lead economist for Russia Birgit Hansl told TASS on Thursday.

The economist mentioned Greece as an instance. “The times of crisis are always good enough for implementing structural reforms. They make governments think hard how to strengthen and restructure the economy. Many countries used the previous experience of the global financial crisis as an opportunity for structural reforms,” Hansl said. So, for example, Greece had to decide on a salary cut in the public sector on the back of social protests.

Speaking about the potential drop in oil prices, Russia will have to bring the expenditure budget into compliance, she said. “Revenues falling at a certain period of time require a change in the expenditure strategy. Otherwise, it’s necessary to increase the public debt and thus the budget deficit,” she said.