Kudrin expects new official 2022 GDP forecast to project drop of 'about' 10%

MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - The new official forecast for Russian economic growth in 2022 could project a contraction of about 10%, Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin said.

"The Finance Ministry is now assessing the Economic Development Ministry's forecast for the decline of GDP this year. It will, of course, decline. The official forecast will be about a 10% drop," Kudrin said at a meeting of the Federation Council's Budget and Financial Markets Committee.

Kudrin said later that forecasts primarily project a contraction of 8% to 10%, although there are also more pessimistic forecasts.

"I said that various official agencies have forecasts of about 10%. There is higher and there is lower. For example, a decrease of plus 8% or, for example, 10% or a little more at various government organizations. [...] about 10%, from plus 8% to more than 10%," Kudrin said. He added that experts have even bigger estimates for the decline of the economy.

The consensus forecast of analysts polled by Interfax at the beginning of April projects that Russia's GDP will shrink by 8.4% in 2022. The World Bank is more pessimistic, forecasting a drop of 11.2%.