OREANDA-NEWS  The improvement of the business climate in Russia has helped the country enter the top 5 economies in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), despite the coronavirus pandemic and sanctions, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said.

"Despite the sanctions, covid... I would like to remind you about the sanctions that began not in 2022, but in 2014. Nevertheless, Russia has been moving quite confidently in the ranking of world powers and today has confidently taken a place in the top five countries in the world in terms of GDP by purchasing power parity. One of the most important factors why it was possible to do this was the consistent improvement of the business climate in the country," Belousov said at the international exhibition and forum "Russia" as part of the Entrepreneur's Day.

The First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation recalled one of the goals set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was to enter the top 20 countries in the Doing Business ranking, which measures the ease of doing business. The World Bank stopped publishing this rating in 2021.

"Even before 2020, we have risen from 123 place - one of the last places in this ranking - to 28 place. That is, we have already entered the top thirty in 2020. I think that if the measurements had continued, ... we would have entered this top twenty," Belousov expressed this opinion.