OREANDA-NEWS  By the end of 2023, Russia's GDP will fall by 0.2 percent, the World Bank (WB) expects. This is stated in the report published on the organization's website.

The organization improved the previous forecast by 3.1 percentage points (the last time the World Bank worsened the forecast from 2 to 3.3 percent). However, the World Bank has worsened the forecast for 2024 — now the organization expects that the country's GDP growth will be 1.2 percent instead of 1.6 percent. In 2025, the economy will grow by 0.8 percent, experts say.

This year, the organization also expects an increase in Russia's budget deficit by 3.7 percent due to measures to stimulate the economy in the face of sanctions and a reduction in the country's oil revenues. At the same time, inflation will slow down to six percent and reach the target level of four percent in 2025.

Other assessments of economic development are given in Russia. According to the current forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, in 2023 the decline in GDP will be 0.8 percent. The central bank believes that the dynamics of GDP will be in the range from minus 1 to plus 1 percent. Analysts surveyed by the Central Bank expect a drop of 1.1 percent. The ACRA rating agency reported at the end of March that under the baseline scenario, Russia's GDP could shrink by 1-1.5 percent.

The country's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin previously stated that already in 2024 the Russian economy will be able to overtake developed countries in terms of growth rates. Russian President Vladimir Putin later also warned that Western sanctions against Russia could have a negative impact on the country's economy.