Russia's war to shrink Ukraine economy 45%: World Bank

London: Ukraine's economy will shrink by 45.1 per cent this year because of Russia's invasion, which has shut down half of the country's businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure, the World Bank has said.

Unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war, meanwhile, are plunging Russia into a deep recession, lopping off more than a tenth of its economic growth, said the World Bank report on Sunday. The war is set to inflict twice the amount of



economic damage across Europe and Central Asia that the COVID-19 pandemic did, the Washington-based lender said in its “War in the Region” economic report.

“The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis unleashed by the war is staggering," said Anna Bjerde, the World Bank's vice president for the Europe and Central Asia region.

"The Russian invasion is delivering a massive blow to Ukraine's economy and it has inflicted enormous damage to infrastructure.”