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Russia Finance Minister Says Artificial Crisis Risk Factors Should Be Addressed

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov noted high risks of global recession, saying that Russia should liberalize its economy to counter these tendencies.
Sputnik

"Risks of a future global recession are very high. That is why we in Russia should counter it against all the odds … [We should] launch national projects as soon as possible and introduce measures to liberalize our economy, … abandon legislation that hampers development of businesses", Siluanov told reporters after the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Washington on Friday.

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"[International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine] Lagarde and other speakers said they believed there will be a recovery in the second half [of 2019]. I think nobody believes this. Everyone just says this in order to create an image that it is all temporary and everything will normalize later", Siluanov pointed out.

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Siluanov also said that he had told participants of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting that reasons for a possible global economic crisis that arise from decisions deliberately taken by some states should be dealt with.

"Speaking on behalf of the Russian delegation, I said, let us at least deal with artificial reasons. There are objective [reasons] that should be addressed with structural changes in any country… The artificial [reasons are those where countries] have deliberately taken decisions — trade wars, sanctions, trans-border restrictions, which are introduced not only in relation to Russia but other countries and companies, too; [there is] constant intimidation", Siluanov told reporters after the meeting in Washington on Friday.

"And the third [group of reasons] is political instability in a number of countries, Brexits, populist and inefficient decisions taken during electoral cycles", the minister explained.

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