The head of Sberbank German Gref, during the traditional "Business Breakfast" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), said that the Russian economy in 2022 rolled back actually 10 years ago. It could take a decade to get back to 2021 levels, he said. The words of the state banker are quoted by RBC.

“If nothing is done, then the return of the Russian economy to the level of 2021 may take about ten years,” said the head of Sberbank.

At the same time, the situation in the economy, as well as the level of pressure on Russia from world states, Gref called "paradoxical, but not so dramatic." The sanctions effect, in his opinion, was not as tough as expected. Restrictions from foreign countries led to a record strengthening of the ruble, which softened inflation, followed by the key rate and resumed lending.

“And, of course, a huge trade surplus, a sharp decline in demand for foreign currency, a sharp decline in import flows led to a re-strengthening of the ruble - I have never seen such a situation: when, in fact, no one needs a currency in Russia,” Gref was surprised.

Assessing the negative effect on the Russian economy, Gref recalled the lost exports and imports due to sanctions. "Unfriendly" countries, according to Gref, accounted for 56% of Russian exports and 51% of imports, the loss of such a volume of international trade Gref estimated at 15% of Russia's GDP. The head of Sberbank sees a way out for Russia in redirecting the “Russian pipe” to the east, as well as starting a deep transformation of the economy.

“By the word ‘pipe’ we mean all traditional Russian export goods,” Gref explained, noting that about 73% of Russian oil has already been redirected to countries that have not imposed sanctions. Regarding the restructuring of the economy, Gref acknowledged that all previous attempts had failed, since there had been no radical changes in its structure over the past 20 years.

“The main challenge, of course, is to ensure the structural restructuring of our economy, something that has not been possible to do for many, many years. We are now facing a huge challenge in completely different macroeconomic conditions - to make the very transformational breakthrough that we have not been able to make in recent decades,” Gref summed up.

For the third decade now, the Russian authorities have been talking about restructuring and reconfiguring the Russian economy, about the need for structural reforms , national projects and other ways of economic change, but in fact, over the past 20 years, the structure of the Russian economy has only degraded: the public sector has reached 80%, and the main source of income budget as oil and gas revenues have been and remain. It will not be possible to carry out a sharp turn towards the East, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev admitted this earlier.