IMF revises upward outlook for Russian GDP

The International Monetary Fund has revised upward its estimates of economic development of Russia and forecasts Russia’s GDP to grow by 2.6% in this year and by 1.1% in 2025, according to the January World Economic Outlook update.

The IMF's expectations for this year are close to those of the Russian Economic Development Ministry, which is forecasting 2.3%, and way above the Central Bank of Russia's 0.5%-1.5% forecast.

The latest 2023 estimate is still lower than that given by Russian economic development minister Maxim Reshetnikov.

"We expect the first estimate of GDP growth in 2023 will be 3.5%. If the scale of subsequent adjustments is on a par with previous years - and according to our indirect estimates it will definitely not be less - then the final growth estimate could be around 4%," he said earlier.