Putin confirms forecast for Russian GDP to grow over 2% in 2023

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - The Russian economy is expected to grow by more than 2% in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on economic issues on Tuesday, thereby confirming the assessment of GDP dynamics for the year earlier called by the head of government Mikhail Mishustin.

"If for the entire period, for the whole of 2022, GDP decreased by 2.1%, then in January-May of this year it grew by 0.6%, and from month-to-month the pace accelerated; by the end of May to 5.4%. We expect that by the end of the year, GDP will add more than 2% ... I spoke with the Prime Minister recently, and we hope it will be more than 2%. And so, this growth will fully win back last year's decline," the president said.

He noted that the growth leaders are manufacturing, construction and retail trade.

The fact that economic growth this year could exceed 2% was announced in early July by the Prime Minister at a meeting with the head of state. "Now we have confidence, unless there are force majeure circumstances, that we should grow by more than 2% per year," he said.

The official forecast from the Ministry of Economic Development for Russian GDP was updated in April and assumes 1.2% growth in 2023, while the ministry did not rule out a revision in expectations in September, taking into account the positive trends in the economy.

The Bank of Russia last week improved its forecast to 1.5%-2.5% from 0.5%-2.0% in the April version.

Analysts polled by Interfax in early July also significantly improved their expectations for GDP growth. The consensus forecast for 2023 suggests growth of 1.7% versus the 0.7% increase forecast last month.