VEB.RF sees Russia’s GDP down 5% in 2020 at $34 oil price

MOSCOW, May 14 (PRIME) -- Russian state development corporation VEB.RF expects the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 5% in 2020, if the average oil price amounts to U.S. $34 per barrel, VEB.RF Chief Economist Andrei Klepach said on Thursday at an online session of the Moscow Academic Economic Forum.

“My colleagues and I have less catastrophic estimates of economic contraction. Speaking of GDP, it is about 5% at an oil price of $34 per barrel,” Klepach said.

Previously, Otkritie Financial Corporation Bank CEO Mikhail Zadornov said the economy may fall by 6%, while Deutsche Bank worsened its outlook for the Russian economy to minus 6.4%.

Klepach said that current state spending and the anti-crisis measures is smaller than in 2008–2009, but will add 0.6 percentage points to the economy and about 1 percentage point to the growth of real incomes of individuals. For now, the government will keep the National Wealth Fund almost intact, but it should use the money on investment if it wants the economic recovery plan to be efficient.

(73.5819 rubles – U.S. $1)

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