World Bank: Russian economy to decline by 3.8% in 2015

Baku. 2 April. REPORT.AZ/ In 2015, Russia's economic growth will decline by 3.8 per cent, while in 2016 the growth rate will slow down to 0.3 percent.Report informs, it is said by the World Bank report on Russia's economy.

Such negative outlook explained by the fact that the Russian government postpones the implementation of major infrastructure projects and private investors are scaling back their investment programs.

The report of the World Bank says that in 2014 a significant cause of the economic slowdown was low investment demand due to serious structural problems in the Russian economy; and towards the end of last year, the situation was exacerbated by the sharp deterioration in trade conditions, the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation and economic sanctions.

Despite the combination of negative factors with which the Russian economy faced in 2014, Russia managed to avoid a recession so far.The main shock - a fall in oil prices - began to affect the economy in the last quarter of last year, and its consequences, apparently, with more power will emerge in 2015 and in 2016 - said Birgit Hunsley, Chief Economist of the World Bank of the Russian Federation and the main author of the report.

The report states that the impact of sanctions on the economy is likely to persist for quite a long time. As international experience shows that economic sanctions may well change the structure of the Russian economy and the way of Russia's integration into the global community, said Michal Rutkowski, Director and Resident Representative of the World Bank in the Russian Federation.

In the medium term, the main risk to economic growth in Russia will be the continuing lack of investment and the available credit resources.