The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upwardly revised its GDP estimates for Russia in 2023, despite ongoing sanctions against the country by the United States. A report released Tuesday predicts Russian GDP will increase by 0.7 percent, a slightly more positive outlook than that of the organization’s January report and a significant improvement since the October report predicted a decline of 2.3 percent.
IMF officials pointed to two factors: energy costs and fiscal stimulus.
“There was a very strong source of revenues for the Russian economy from energy exports—very, very high energy prices—and that helped support economic activity,” said Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, IMF director of research, at a press briefing on Tuesday. “In addition to that, there was a very strong fiscal impulse in Russia in 2022 and continuing into 2023.”…