"The reaction of the oil market and the ruble exchange rate that has already taken place allows us to conclude that Russia’s GDP in 2020 will fall by 1.5-2%, and inflation will rise to 10-15%" - believes Sergey Khestanov, Russian economist, associate professor of ‘The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration‘, macroeconomic adviser to the general director of the Moscow investment company ‘Otkritie Broker’.

With the economic slowdown, the Slovak government is focusing its efforts on combating the spread of the COVID-19 virus among the population to ensure the resumption of production and business activity in the country since mid-May 2020. At present, the possible losses of the Slovak economy over the two months of quarantine measures are estimated at 5% of GDP or at least EUR 4 billion.

Sergey Khestanov - Russian economist, associate professor of 'The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration', macroeconomic adviser to the general director of the Moscow investment company 'Otkritie Broker', believes that at the end of 2019 - the beginning of 2020 important factor that influences the economic cycle is powerfully manifested: the election campaign in the United States began. The current US president, D. Trump, is actively demonstrating a desire to be re-elected. At the same time, the low dynamics of all the major economies in the world (the USA, the EU and China) reveals the fact that another recession in the global economy is just around the corner. The lower the rate of economic growth, the more the weaker negative factors can trigger a recession.

On March 2, 2020, a closed expert meeting called “Increasing Renewable Energy in Central Europe”, organized by the British Government and the COP26 Organizing Committee, was held at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Vienna, Austria, at the level of representatives of the governments of Central and Eastern Europe, and was aimed at discussing aspects of closure of coal industries of Central and Eastern Europe within the framework of “energy transition”.