“Forbes”: in Russia the number of billionaires and the size of their fortunes increased, although the world recorded the opposite trend

2023-04-21 08:55:00

Although in 2023 the number of billionaires in the world and the size of their wealth decreased, the number of Russian super-rich and the value of their assets increased, according to the Russian edition of Forbes magazine. Over the year of the war in Ukraine, the number of Russian billionaires has increased from 88 to 110, and their wealth from 353 to 505 billion dollars.

Of the 110 richest Russians included in this year’s Forbes list of billionaires, 46 are sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and Great Britain, the independent Moscow Times portal points out.

The richest Russian and at the same time the 58th richest man in the world is now Andrei Melnichenko, whose fortune has more than doubled in a year, to USD 25.2 billion. It was possible thanks to the increase in the value of EuroChem – a concern he founded, dealing in the production of artificial fertilisers. After the start of the war in Ukraine, this sector of the Russian economy recorded impressive growth, comments “Forbes”. Melnichenko is also the founder of the SUEK concern dealing with coal mining.

Second among Russian billionaires was Vladimir Potanin, who made his fortune from nickel mining and operations in the financial industry. The third is Vladimir Lisin, who controls NLMK, one of Russia’s largest steel-producing companies.

Unlike Melnichenko, who is richer than before the war, the fortunes of Potanin and Lisin have not yet returned to the 2021 level, Moscow Times writes. In 2021, the cumulative wealth of Russian billionaires was $606 billion.

One of the reasons for the increase in the number and wealth of Russian billionaires in this year’s edition of the ranking is that the 2022 list was created in early March, just after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine began, explains “Forbes”. Stocks of Russian companies were then suspended, the ruble collapsed, and the official economic forecasts of the Russian central bank were worse than later results, the magazine calculates.

Although in 2022, the Russian economy shrank by 2.1 percent. and was losing as a result of the sanctions imposed on it, commodity prices on world markets were still high, and the fortunes of the Russian super-rich depend on them, Moscow Times notes.

Meanwhile, the number of billionaires in the world has fallen from 2,668 in 2022 to 2,640 in 2023; their combined wealth decreased by $500 billion, to $12.2 trillion, according to the annual list of the American biweekly published last week. (PAP)

adj/ mms/