Central bank head sees 2023 economic growth at about 2%

MOSCOW, Jun 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy will likely grow by about 2.0% in 2023, Central Bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

"Our estimates show that the gross domestic product (GDP) dynamics is now better than the pivot of our 0.5–2.0% forecast, a bit higher. It will likely be in the upper half of our forecast range," Nabiullina said.

The current ruble weakening may affect inflation longer than usual, she also said.

"The time of the effect may be longer than it used to be. The main effect is usually in the first several months, if may last longer now," Nabiullina said.

She also said that the possible inclusion of Russia into the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force would make payments more difficult but would not sever trade relations of the country.

The central bank supports the idea of floating shares of the companies bought from the firms leaving Russia, the details are being discussed.

It is considering various scenarios of exchange of frozen assets and does not disclose the amount of money on type C accounts.

"We are looking very cautiously at the ways of managing it in principle," she said.

The authority may toughen regulation of consumer lending and restrict the volume of risky mortgages, the official said.

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