World Bank downgrades Russia's 2013 GDP growth

The World Bank has downgraded its 2013 GDP growth forecast for Russia to 3.3 from 3.6 percent, Business Newsweek reports.

The GDP forecast was revised for five reasons, according to the World Bank's latest Russian Economic Report, launched in Moscow on February 26.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said previously that the government hoped GDP growth in 2013 would constitute 5 percent.

Former deputy head of the Central Bank, director for macroeconomic research at the Higher School of Economics Sergey Aleksashenko, says he does not trust the World Bank's reports.

However, he admits that 5 percent growth is simply impossible. According to Aleksashenko, Russian GDP growth this year will probably constitute less than 3 per cent.