Sanctions Notwithstanding, Russia’s Economy Continues to Outperform

The International Monetary Fund released the latest edition of its “ World Economic Outlook’s October issue.

The organisation expects the Russian economy to grow by 3.6 percent this year , up from the 3.2-percent expansion stated in April .

Russia has thus far defied widespread expectations that US- and EU -led sanctions would expose key vulnerabilities in its economy.

The World Bank also upgraded Russia from “upper-middle-income country” to “high-income” status.

The BoR hiked its key interest rate by a hefty 200 basis points to 21 percent in late October .

The central bank also acknowledged that household and business expectations for inflation had reached their highs for 2024 .

Inflation is also being supported by the ongoing tightness of the Russian labour market, with unemployment at record lows of 2.4 percent since June .

With extra money in their pockets, therefore, Russia is experiencing a healthy consumer boom.

Ministry also hiked its GDP-growth outlook for 2025-2027 : 2.5 percent for 2025 from 2.3 percent forecasted in April .

“We are assessing the rate of economic growth this year more optimistically than we assessed it in April . Now we believe that real GDP growth will amount to about 3.9 percent ,” a Ministry spokesman confirmed.