MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. In an interview with TASS businessman and CEO of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin called the current macroeconomic situation in Russia and the world difficult for doing business.
"The macroeconomic situation is difficult and complicated for doing business in such an environment. This concerns not only the situation in our country, which is under additional sanctions pressure and other unfavorable factors. This concerns the entire global economy. A recession is expected in most G20 countries. Trade wars, tariff and sanctions wars have begun," he told TASS on the sidelines of the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
According to him, all this indicates the creation of a new system of international division of labor.
"Basically, I believe that our country could well fit into this new economic legal order as a full-fledged participant. We have sufficient weight in the global economy and good technological, export, scientific, and personnel capabilities, too, despite the shortage of personnel," he added. Potanin also noted that the Bank of Russia’s key rate complicates not only the servicing of loans, which are becoming more expensive.
"For some companies, they also limit access to the loans themselves, so this is also a serious deterrent. We must understand that a high interest rate is a consequence of the macroeconomic difficulties I mentioned, and not their cause," he added.