In bright sunshine, a long queue of shoppers snaked outside an IKEA store near Moscow this week. Similar scenes were repeated across Russia as families rushed to spend their fast-depreciating roubles at the Swedish retailer which is exiting the crisis-hit country.
Russians are bracing for an uncertain future of spiraling inflation, economic hardship and an even sharper squeeze on imported goods.
"The purchases that I planned to make in April, I urgently bought today. A friend from Voronezh also told me to buy for her," shopper Viktoriya Voloshina told Reuters in Rostov, a town 217 kilometers from Moscow. Zach Witlin, an analyst at Eurasia Group, notes sanctions are already hitting consumers via prices hikes and digital payments disruptions.
The immediate economic shock will cause a 35% GDP contraction in the second quarter and a 7% decline in 2022, JPMorgan predicted. But "growing political and economic isolation will curtail Russia's growth potential in years to come," it added.
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