IMF upgrades Russia's GDP growth

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has increased its forecast for Russia's gross domestic product growth to four percent in 2012 from the previous 3.3 percent, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report on Tuesday. The IMF also upgraded the country's GDP growth forecast to 3.9 percent from 3.5 percent for 2013. The IMF's forecast for 2012 is higher than the official forecast of Russia's Economic Development Ministry which cut its forecast for this year to 3.4 percent from 3.7 percent. In 2011 Russia’s gross domestic product grew by 4.2 percent, the world’s third highest growth rate among leading economies. The IMF also improved its 2012 forecast for economic growth in the CIS states by 0.5 percentage points to 4.2 percent and 2013 forecast by 0.3 percentage points to 4.1 percent. As for the Central and Eastern Europe countries, their GDP will grow 0.8 percentage points to 1.9 percent this year and 0.5 percentage points to 2.9 percent next year.