IMF raises Russia's 2023 GDP growth outlook to 2.2% from 1.5%

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The International Monetary Fund has again raised its outlook for Russian GDP growth in 2023, this time to 2.2% from the 1.5% growth it was predicting in July.

The IMF unveiled the forecast in its latest World Economic Outlook on Tuesday.

However the IMF's 2024 growth forecast for Russia was lowered to 1.1% from 1.3%.

The IMF said in its April World Economic Outlook that it thought the Russian economy would grow 0.7% in 2023. It said in January that it might grow just 0.3% and in October last year that might fall 2.3%.

The IMF says in its latest report that Western sanctions on Russian crude oil exports have had "mixed effects" with export flows of Russian oil having remained fairly steady, and its price discount relative to Brent oil having shrunk over time-Russian oil is trading above the $60 price cap imposed by the G7 countries.

The IMF's expectations for this year are close to the upper bound of the Central Bank of Russia's outlook - the regulator has kept its GDP growth forecast for 2023 at 1.5-2.5%, but has lowered the upper bound of its 2024 growth forecast to 0.5-1.5% from the 0.5-2.5% it was predicting in July.

The Russian Economic Development Ministry in September raised its 2023 GDP growth forecast for Russia to 2.8% from the 1.2% it was forecasting in April, and its 2024 growth outlook to 2.3% from 2.0%.