OREANDA-NEWS   The Central Bank of Russia will present an updated economic forecast in February, in which it will narrow the corridor of a possible decline in the country's GDP in 2023 after assessing new circumstances, including the entry into force of the latest sanctions against the oil and gas industry. Kirill Tremasov, Director of the Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank, told about this in an interview with the Bitkogan YouTube channel.

He recalled that in October the range was unusually wide — 1-4 percent, which is due to high uncertainty. At that time, it was not very clear in what form the restrictions would be introduced, how the industry would react in terms of production, processing and export volumes, what volumes would fall out and whether they would fall out at all.

At the moment, the situation still looks difficult for forecasts, but in any case, the Central Bank does not see "the possibility of positive economic growth next year." According to Tremasov, the country's GDP is likely to fall, although a reversal is possible in the middle of the year or in the third quarter.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that by the end of 2022, Russia's GDP will fall by 2.5 percent. At the same time, he stressed that there are no alarming elements in the economy. In his opinion, Russia shows much better indicators than many G20 countries.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Alexey Zabotkin does not rule out that the regulator will have to raise the key rate in order to keep inflation in 2023. According to him, such actions will be taken if a positive scenario cannot be implemented.