The World Bank (WB) downgraded the fall of Russia's GDP in 2016 from 0.1 to 0.7 percent. The deterioration of the forecast, as it is explained in the report, is connected with the fall in world oil prices.
The most likely scenario, according to the Central Bank, assumes average annual price of oil in 2015 at the level of 51.9 dollars per barrel, in 2016 - 49.4 per barrel, whereas previously the average price was predicted as $ 53 in 2015 and 2016.
The decline in oil prices, as it is noted in the World Bank, will not affect Russia's economic performance in the last quarter of 2015, in connection with which the bank retains its forecast of the fall of Russia's GDP in the current year at 3.8 percent. In 2017, the World Bank forecasts economic growth at 1.3 percent with maintaining sanctions, low oil prices and political uncertainty. This is 0.2 percent lower than it was previously expected.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina