The World Bank announced an improvement in Russia’s GDP forecast for this year, as the economy recorded a contraction of 4.5%, and by 2023 it will fall to 3.6%.
Bank experts noted that “the contraction is likely to be weaker than originally expected, thanks to higher-than-expected oil production, faster-than-expected stabilization of financial markets, additional financial support, trade, remittances and financial flows, in mostly from the South Caucasus and Asia”. In Central Asia, things are doing better than expected as higher energy prices dampened economic activity in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
In their opinion, the Russian economy survived the first flurry of international sanctions better than expected, thanks to a combination of rapid and massive capital controls and liquidity operations, as well as financial support for the population, businesses and regional authorities at the level of 3% of GDP. .
Experts predict that Russia’s GDP will grow by 1.6 percent in 2024. They stressed that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia “are having a significant negative impact on the Russian economy, although in the short term they are less severe than originally envisaged.”
Source: El Iktisad
