Page 56 - RusRPTSept22

The decline in GDP at the end of the year may be below 3%, and inflation will not exceed 13%, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov believes. He gave such a forecast today at a meeting with Mikhail Mishustin. In general, according to Belousov, "the picture turned out to be better than we imagined before." His estimates are much more optimistic than those of the Central Bank and even than those of the Ministry of Economic Development (whose forecast was already called too optimistic by analysts).
Belousov predicts “The decline in GDP will be less than 3% - somewhere around 2%, next year there is every chance to limit the decline to 1% and get minus 0.6–0.8%,” Belousov said. The Ministry of Economic Development predicts a fall in GDP by 4.2% this year (and by 2.7% next year), the Central Bank has laid down a fall of 4-6% in the baseline scenario (the regulator expects minus 1-4% next year).
56 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com