MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) - GDP growth in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2024 is expected to exceed 2.5%, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said in an interview with Expert magazine, TASS reports.
According to him, all five EAEU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) posted good GDP dynamics in 2023. “The forecast for 2024 is also optimistic: over 2.5% for the entire union,” Alexey Overchuk said.
Russia's deputy prime minister noted that “many factors came together and the measures and decisions that were taken in the EAEU over the years gave their accumulated effect”.
“The absence of customs and other barriers, the common labor market help unlock the investment potential of Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan,” he pointed out. “The development of Belarus, in addition to its membership in the EAEU, is also influenced by its membership in the Union State, which is a deeper model of integration, and which allows the two countries to develop together and adequately respond to emerging challenges,” Alexey Overchuk said.
He added that from January to September 2023, the real EU GDP edged up by only 0.5% year-on-year. GDP decreased by 3.1% in Estonia, 0.5% in Lithuania, 0.2% in Latvia, 0.2% in Germany and Austria, and, according to emerging estimates, 0.3% in Germany in 2023. The European Union's economic growth slowed down in recent years, while in 2023 the EAEU posted the economic growth of more than 3.5% over 2022.
“The end of the globalization era, the politicization of the EU's decision-making process, and the severance of economic relations with Russia are stripping Europe of the competitive advantages that underpinned its prosperity,” Alexey Overchuk said.
He pointed out that “industrial production is moving out from the EU to regions with lower energy prices. Agricultural production is shrinking too.’ “This is the decline of Europe, which is very clearly visible against the backdrop of economic growth in other regions of the world, including the EAEU,” he added.
Alexey Overchuk said Russia realizes the impossibility of developing economic ties with the EU in the medium term. “We proceed from reality and recognize that trade and economic relations with the EU are unlikely in the medium term,” he said. At the same time, Alexey Overchuk stressed that “it was not Russia that broke economic ties with Europe, and it was not Russia that began to impose sanctions.” “We could develop relations, but it is obvious that the Europeans think otherwise. So far there are very few people there [in the EU] who are able to objectively assess what is happening and to be unbiased,” he added.
