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Sanctions on Russia to affect growth rate in Europe — World Bank

“That’s a normal effect if you have a country of this size of the economy with large export and import flows," the World Bank lead economist for Russia Birgit Hansl told

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The sanctions on Russia will have an indirect second-round effect on the country’s trade partners in Europe and Central Asia, the World Bank lead economist for Russia Birgit Hansl told TASS.

“That’s a normal effect if you have a country of this size of the economy with large export and import flows and such strong integration in the world economy. If their export and import structure suddenly changes and their growth pattern changes, you will have emanating lower growth from that country to the region,” Hansl said.

WB chief economist on Russia added that the World Bank considers a slowdown in the rate of growth in Russia’s trading partners due to second-round effect of the sanctions as a key risk for them in 2016. “We consider this impact in the forecast for the Central Asian countries, the euro area, and all close trade partners of Russia. The impact is significant, and it is part of the reason for the downgrade of the growth prospects, especially in Europe and Central Asia,” she said.