Siluanov allowed economic growth in 2023 above 2.5%

According to the results of the current year, the Russian economy may grow by 2.5% or more, while inflation will remain at 6%, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with CGTN TV channel, writes TASS.

“If last year the economy shrank by 2.1%, then this year we expect the economy to recover. <...> 2.5%, maybe even higher. So we can say that we will win back the fall that happened in the last period,” he said.

The minister also said that he expects inflation to remain at 6% in 2023. According to him, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank will take all measures to reduce inflation to the level of planned values.

Unemployment in Russia is now at a minimum level – 3%, this has not happened in recent decades, added Siluanov.

Annual inflation in July amounted to 4.3% after 3.25% in June, Rosstat reported on August 9. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.63%. According to the Central Bank’s forecast, annual inflation will continue to rise in the coming months amid growing price pressure, as well as the withdrawal from the calculation of low monthly growth rates in summer 2022. The Central Bank expects that inflation by the end of 2023 will be at the level of 5-6.5% per annum .

On July 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, said that Russia’s economic indicators turned out to be better than forecasts, which gives hope for the solution of all the tasks set during 2023. Mishustin, in turn, drew attention to the fact that by the end of 2023 GDP could grow by more than 2%.