World Bank improves outlook for Russia’s 2021 GDP growth to 2.9%

MOSCOW, Mar 31 (PRIME) -- The World Bank (WB) has improved its forecast for Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2021 to 2.9% from 2.6% and in 2022 to 3.2% from 3% because the economy will recover faster as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic subsides, the authority said in a report on the economy of Europe and Central Asia published on Wednesday.

The WB improved its outlook since the Russian economy’s slowdown in 2021 was weaker than expected, and the coronavirus restrictions will be lifted faster than forecasted. Still, the forecast is strongly sensitive to uncertainty and risks.

The WB also expects the federal budget of Russia to switch into surplus of 0.5% of GDP in 2022, while deficit should shrink to 1.8% of GDP in 2021.

Russia’s poverty level should contract in 2021 as compared with 2020, but will still outperform the pre-pandemic figures until 2022. Nevertheless, social support measures of the Russian government managed to prevent an even deeper dive into poverty, the WB said.

In September 2020, the Economic Development Ministry of Russia said it expected the GDP to rise 3.3% in 2021, but the authority plans to revise the forecast until the end of May.

End %%md/jst%%