OREANDA-NEWS. Maksim Oreshkin, Economic Adviser to President of Russia, said that the disappearance of the task of entering the top five economies of the world from the list of Russia’s national goals is explained by the fact that actually it has already been achieved. “If you open the latest forecast of the International Monetary Fund for this year, you will see that this year Russia will be the fifth economy in the world, it will rise to this level,” the politician said.

The decree, signed by President Vladimir Putin in May 2018, made one of the country’s tasks to get into the top five largest economies in the world by 2024. To fulfill it, it was necessary to climb one place, since in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity, only China, the USA, India, Japan and Germany were ahead of Russia. “The lag behind Germany, which is in fifth place, is 4–5 %. […] Therefore, we should, of course, show higher rates of economic development and bypass it in this rating,” Oreshkin said in 2018.

However, according to him, as for 2020, it was COVID-19 pandemic that allowed Russia to fulfill the task ahead of schedule. “Oddly enough, the crisis helped a lot, we achieved this goal two years earlier,” the presidential aide explained.

According to the April forecast of the International Monetary Fund, by the end of 2020, Russia’s GDP will amount to 4.176 trillion, and Germany’s 4.16 trillion international dollars. Thus, Russia will overtake Germany, which has been hit harder by epidemic. However, according to the forecast, in 2021, Russia and Germany, will switch positions again.