World Bank upgrades Russia’s 2023 outlook by 0.3 pp

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (PRIME) -- The World Bank (WB) has improved its forecast for contraction of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 to 3.3% from 3.6%, the institution said in a report on Tuesday.

The GDP will contract this year because of a full implementation of the E.U. oil embargo and contraction of natural gas exports as the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is suspended, the bank said.

The forecast for 2024 remained unchanged at a 1.6% growth as consumption will expand moderately and exports should grow insignificantly.

At the same time, the World Bank worsened its forecasts for the economies of 95% of developed countries and 70% of developing countries in 2023. The factors that slow down the economies include high inflation, growing interest rates, shrinking investment, and the economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.

The global economy will rise by 1.7% in 2023 and by 2.7% in 2024, but the economic situation is very fragile, and any new negative event could trigger recession for the first time in more than 80 years, the World Bank said.

The combined growth of developed economies will fall to 0.5% in 2023 from 2.5% in 2022, while the combined expansion of developing countries excluding China will down to 2.7% from 3.8%.

End