OREANDA-NEWS. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded the forecast for Russia's GDP growth in 2019 by 0.5 percentage points compared with the April report - to 1.1%, and in 2020 - increased by 0.2 percentage points, to 1, 9%. This is stated in the IMF report on the prospects for the development of the global economy.

In addition, the IMF predicts inflation in Russia at the end of 2019 at 3.8% in annual terms (December to December), for 2020 the figure will be 3.7%. At the same time, according to the IMF methodology, according to which the average annual indicator is calculated, inflation in Russia in 2019 is expected to be 4.7%, and in 2020 - 3.5%.

The report notes that increasing VAT at the beginning of this year accelerated inflation in the Russian Federation. According to the IMF, the growth of the Russian economy was weaker than the April expectations of the fund, but it will recover in 2020, which in turn can improve the forecast for the countries of the region. At the IMF, the Russian authorities are advised to move towards a stimulating economic growth policy in the field of taxes and government spending, "refraining from using the resources of the National Wealth Fund for quasi-fiscal purposes".