The growth rate of the Russian economy in 2024 turned out to be higher than the expectations of Russian authorities and analysts, as well as international organizations."
No numbers out of Russia can be taken at face value.
All are manipulated and distorted to support the regime's narratives.
However, even if we accept Russian claims of 4.1% growth, that is a gross number, not net of inflation.
If we subtract a realistic estimate of Russia's inflation -- 15% in 2024 -- the net is a decline in GDP by 10.9%.
Further, it's well worth noticing that all of Russia's GDP increase came from defense spending, which is now roughly 40% of Russia's budget and around 15% of GDP.
This means, in nominal terms, Russia's defense spending comes to roughly $300 billion.
However, in Purchase Price Parity (PPP) terms, that makes Russia's defense spending over $1 trillion per year.
Remember, PPP only looks at costs, not values.
So, to pick an example, a Russian T-90 tank may be valued only 1/3 as much as a US M-1 Abrams tank, but for PPP purposes, they are costed as the same.
That's how PPP can equate Russia's annual defense spending today as equivalent to US defense spending.
President Trump has demanded that Europeans increase their defense spending from today's circa 2% up to 5%.
The US is currently somewhere north of 3% and we should also aim for 5%.
If the US and our allies all reached 5% on defense spending, the total would be circa $4 trillion per year -- more than enough to dwarf anything Russia, China, Iran & NoKo could even think of matching.
The US share of that total would be around 38%.
Peace through strength.
Weakness invites more aggression.
