Russian Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov has announced that the Russian economy is now projected to grow by over 2%.
Speaking with the TASS news service, Reshetnikov said the projections are still preliminary, however he said that it was expected that the ministry would complete the work on the final figures by later this month.
He said, “It will definitely grow by more than 2%, but let’s wait for concrete figures. We are now at the stage of making a forecast. That is why everyone is interested, not only in the assessment of this year, but also in the assessment of the next few years.”
The figure is consistent with the latest forecasts issued by the Bank of Russia. In July, the Russian central bank had forecast that the nation’s GDP would grow by as much as 2.5% by the end of 2023.
The International Monetary Fund meanwhile has continued to upgrade previous forecasts for Russia’s GDP growth in 2023, from 0.3% in January, to 0.7% in April, to now 1.5%.
Previously, the Russian central bank had noted that the recovery phase of the Russian economy is now over, and that going forward, GDP was expected to gradually increase.
The bank noted that in the second quarter of 2023, the Russian economy grew 4.8% year over year. The Ministry of Economic Development pointed out that in the period from April through June, the economy added 4.6% compared to the same period one year prior.
