(Source: http://www.kavkazcenter.com)

The Russian economy is expected to fall by 3% in 2015.

This is stated in the IMF report published on the website of the organization. The complete report will be presented today in Beijing. The fall is due to a sharp fall in oil prices and strengthening of geopolitical tension, according to the report. In 2016 the fall will slow down to 1%.

“Oil exporting countries with oil revenues making up a large part of the tax revenues experience a significant economic shock” - the report says. At the same time the fall in oil prices will be not so harsh for the countries that have accumulated large reserves in previous years, as the authors write.

Besides, the world will experience a moderate growth from 3.3% in 2014 to 3.5% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016. The countries with advanced economy are expected to grow by 2.4% in 2015 and 2016. Economic growth in developing countries will make up 4.3% in 2015 and 4.7% in 2016.

The modest indicators are due to the three factors, the examples drawn by the IMF being as follows: weak economic situation in Russia, reduced growth for countries exporting raw materials. The key factor is the slowdown in the Chinese economy. The country’s economy grew by 7.3% in the fourth quarter of 2014, as compared with the same period in 2013. An overall growth in 2014 made up 7.4%, as the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported today.

This is the lowest annual growth for the last 24 years. IMF forecasted weak economic growth in Russia in the report published earlier. In 2015 it had to make up 0.5%. The decline in Russia and neighboring countries was explained by weak domestic demand and growth of geopolitical tension, as the report said. In mid-January the Head of the Russian representative office of the International Monetary Fund Bikas Joshi stated that the measures taken by the Hovernment and the Central Bank had helped to stabilize the exchange rate of Russian rouble.