GENEVA, January 10. /TASS/. Growing defense expenditures in view of the situation around Ukraine unexpectedly resulted in booming economy in Russia and growing debts in the Western countries, the Swiss news portal Watson said.
Many Western economists expected a deep recession for the Russian economy in 2023 because of sanctions but the situation was not such, the portal said. Russian economic growth would be about 3% in 2023, according to expert of the Bank of Finland Heli Simola, while this is "much higher" than many Western economists expected. While Finland, Baltic States and even Germany "remain in a state of heavy recession," Russia is "demonstrating amazing economic indicators," the news portal noted.
The news outlet predicts "even greater" growth for defense spending than expected, following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October. According to Watson data, direct and indirect defense expenditures of the US, including support of Ukraine and Israel, are to be $1 trillion in 2024. Many signs are also present in Europe that the planned increase in defense spending will be largely financed through the increase of debt liabilities, the portal said.