Experts of the European Commission downgraded the forecast of decline of the Russian economy in 2016 from 1.2% to 1.9%, according to a published report, the EC spring forecast of economic situation in the EU and the leading States of the world.
At the same time, experts of the EC, in comparison to the February report, have improved the forecast for 2017, by raising the expected growth rate of Russia’s GDP from 0.2% to 0.5%.
In its spring report the Commission notes the rapid decline from the end of 2015 inflation in Russia, which in March reached 7.3 percent, compared to almost 17% a year earlier. According to the forecast of the European Commission, the average annual rate of inflation in 2016 will amount to 7.5%, while in 2017 this figure in Russia falls to 5.4%, which is close to the medium-term benchmark of 4%.
